To Shape and Change
by This is not a FanFiction
Summary: After helplessly watching the murder of his son by the hands of the civilians he had sworn to protect, Minato Namikaze breaks inside. When the god of Death offers the chance to walk among the living once more, he accepts. Only catch is, he has to live in the body of his son, Naruto Uzumaki. How will the world change with the Yellow Flash taking his sons place? ((No pairings.))
1. The End is only a New Beginning

A/N: After reading Port in the Storm's _Time's Spinning Gears_, I just had to get this written/typed down. I'll admit to having the idea of Naruto taking over Minato's body (even have a few pages written out on it), but never of doing it the other way around. So, thanks to Port's inspiration, this story has come out! I really recommend reading it, even though it hasn't been updated since 2010 (and I assume has since been abandoned) it's a good story. Any way, regardless of the attention this story gets, I'll be continuing! So here you lovely readers go!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 1: The End is Only a New Beginning

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of The Village Hidden in the Leaf, the famed and feared Yellow Flash stared from the stomach of the Shinigami at the lifeless seven year old child; his body strewn in an unnatural position in a small alley way in Konoha. The child who had the brightest most unmanageable blonde hair, so bright it was as though it were dipped into liquid sunshine, now lay soaked in his blood. His eyes, so dull and lifeless behind his eyelids, had once shone brighter than the summer blue sky. Minato's heart ran cold, his body frozen stiff, and mind unable to comprehend that his baby boy, _his_ Naruto, was dead.

Murdered.

In a single moment, it all came crashing down on him and Minato fell to the floor, shattered completely at the sight. He didn't understand, _couldn't_ understand how something so horrific could happen in the Village he gave his life to protect. He couldn't understand why the villagers, in their drunken stupor, beat a _child_, someone who could never protect himself, to the ground with absolute glee written on their faces. He couldn't understand why the ANBU, stationed to protect him, had turned a deaf ear to the cries and desperate pleads for help his Naruto screamed until his voice could no longer. Most of all, he couldn't understand why his last wish was so blatantly disregarded.

His son was a hero. His son was the reason he had been able to defeat the Kyuubi no Kitsune. His son was supposed to be loved and cared for because he was the jailor of the most powerful of all the tailed-beasts. That was what he wished for, for his son to be looked upon as the hero he was. Instead, his son laid lifeless on the cold gravel, forgotten.

Why... _Why_ wasn't he treated as a hero? Why had Sarutobi failed to fulfill his final wish? Why had this happened? Where were his godparents? Why hadn't Jiraiya and Tsunade taken him in after his death as they were _supposed_ to? There were no thoughts of vengence for his son, all there was, was pain and utter sadness.

In his agonizing mourning, Minato hadn't noticed the tears that streamed endlessly down his face, nor the soft touch of a hand grasping his shoulder.

He was numb.

It was only when the hand began to shake him lightly did Minato look up, his eyes mirroring his shattered heart, to the dark cloaked god of Death, Shinigami-sama.

**"Mourn no longer, Minato Namikaze,"** the god said in an unearthly voice, **"Kami personally took him from the mortal plane. His suffering is over." **After an eternity of dealing with the dead, Shinigami still hadn't a clue with how to deal with parents mourning the death of a child. It was an unnatural occurrence. Parents were meant to outlive their children, the children meant to bury their parents, not the other way around. While it was true Namikaze had outlived his son, he hadn't been allowed to rest in peace like the other souls, for the price of the sealing denied him that.

Minato stared at the Death god, his words ringing through his ears in a loop until it finally sunk in.

"Kami-sama...took him purposefully?" he asked in a low shaken voice.

**"Yes. The boy was too innocent. Naive. Forgiving. Had he lived any longer, he would have been dealt pain worse than death."**

"He's... he...I-I failed him." His voice was broken, his head hung low in as unimaginable shame and guilt began to eat him whole. _He _had sealed the Kyuubi in his son. _He_ had given his life for the Village naively thinking that they would accept him for the boy he was, and not the demon he held. _He_ had killed his own son through his action.

**"His pain in life was no consequence of your actions, Minato Namikaze, but the actions of a few who refused to listen to Hiruzen Sarutobi."**

"So... he...Sarutobi-sama _tried_?" The god nodded, "I-I'm... I don't know what to feel... Happy he tried... or angry he failed..."

After a short silence, Shinigami-sama walked around to face Minato directly, his body shrunken down to the humans size.

**"You have always been an honorable man, Minato Namikaze. The purest shinobi soul I have had the pleasure of meeting." **Shinigami-sama said, breaking the silence, **"Should you wish it, I shall take you back to the world of the living, to allow you to walk among man once** **more. To live, die, and see those you've lost with Kami once it ends again."** At this Minato stared at him unblinkingly in shock,** "But only through the life of your son."**

For a moment, the once Yondaime was speechless. The Death god was giving him the option to go back, to _live_ once more in his sons body. Then, once he had lived, in death he would be able to see his friends, Kushina, and Naruto. The answer didn't come as easily as he hoped. A part of him was screaming to accept, if only for the end benefits. The other wanted to deny the offer for it didn't know whether it would be able to stop from killing all those who had harmed his son. Yet, he could attain his sons dreams for him. He could change the views the Village had of his son, become Hokage once more for the sake of his son.

**"Make haste with your decision, Namikaze, for the life of the body shall end shortly." **In truth, Shinigami had his reasons for allowing such a thing to occur. Taking his mind off the mortal plane for just a moment had lead to the death of the "Chosen One," prophesied by Fate to change the very course of the world. Kami would not allow her purest soul to live through a lifetime of pain, and so it was his duty to convince this man to take his place. Such would be a suitable replacement, if not better. Minato Namikaze was a gem among coals in terms of souls. While he was naive in his life to certain extents, he hadn't a shadow of a doubt that he would change the world for the better.

Taking a single shaky breath, Minato said just the words Shinigami was hoping he would say.

"I accept."

Allowing a small smile grace his deathly features, Shinigami unsheathed his sword, and looked with a small amount of amusement at the wide eyed man in front of him. **"Good," **he said, **"****Goodbye, Minato Namikaze. We shall meet each other once again, but let us hope it shan't be soon."** With a wide, frightening grin, Shinigami brought her sword down upon Minato, slicing through his body with ease, and watched as the body of a man become a small silver glow before it disappeared into the body of Naruto Uzumaki.

_**I look forward to seeing you live once more, Namikaze. Let us see what you do in the**_** world.**

* * *

Pain.

That was the very first thing that processed through Minato's mind. Unrepentant, merciless pain. He could feel his body shake and twitch, the subtle movements giving him a clear feel of his body. His poor Naruto was so tiny. So small. So fragile. Taking a few calming breaths, Minato attempted to open his eyes, the sudden burst of white causing him to grimace and shut his eyes once more. After a short moment, he attempted again, this time prepared for the sudden onslaught of color and was able to adjust without much pain.

His eyes, or rather Naruto's, were met with a dull white ceiling that he knew simply all to well, and not just because of Naruto's memories (which were rapidly imbedding themselves in his mind) but because he had spent more than a fair enough amount of time in a room identical to the one he laid in.

The Hospital.

Of course he would be taken to the hospital once _someone_ realized he was in fact, alive. It _didn't_, however, mean he liked it. Appreciated, sure. Liked? Never. Naruto's memories of glaring nurses and sub par treatment from the doctors only made his distaste more pronounced. And as if on some unannounced cue, Hiruzen Sarutobi walked into the small room.

Conflicted from punching and hugging the man left Minato to simply stare as the Sandaime Hokage walked in with a grandfatherly smile plastered on his face. The "Naruto" side of him wanted to scream, "Old man! Come to get me out?!" while Minato was_ pretty _sure he wanted to cause him physical harm. One thought _was_, however, agreed upon with both sides.

The man looked _old._

_"Seven years and you look like you aged fifteen. What happened to you Sarutobi?" _Minato couldn't help but wonder, only to be brought back to reality when said man finally spoke.

"How are you feeling, Naruto?" he asked, sincere concern laced in his voice.

"'m fine." he replied automatically, his voice a little raspy, no doubt from the damage his vocal cords had taken from all the screaming. The slight frown on Sarutobi's face was enough to tell Minato that he didn't believe him. But what did he expect? Technically, Naruto _died_ in that attack. He couldn't possibly be expecting sunshine-daisy, happy-go-lucky Naruto? From the memories he had from _other_ encounters like this (which had him internally _seething_) this was how Naruto acted.

With a mask.

One he was determined to break. Just slowly. "Changing" himself so abruptly would leave some unwanted questions. He didn't plan on telling anyone it was actually him who was now Naruto. It would just cause trouble, and a lot of time wasted on explaining just _how_ he came to control Naruto's body.

"I'm glad to hear that, Naruto." Sarutobi said breaking Minato out of his thoughts. "It looks like you won't be able to leave till tomorrow though." With that, Minato couldn't help but let a groan escape his lips. He was _not _looking forward to spending more than a day in the place. It wasn't as though they were actually healing him anyhow. From his memories, it seemed Naruto had an amazing healing rate. He chalked it up to a side effect of having the Kyuubi sealed in his body, as he did design the seal to kill the demon should he perish. And he doubted the Kyuubi _wanted_ to die, so healing his vessel was one way to make prevent it from happening. Or make it easy...

"Sorry, Naruto." If going by the look Sarutobi had on his face was saying anything, he was quite amused with his unwillingness to stay in the hospital. "Rest and when you get out we can go get ramen." With the slight bags under his eyes, Minato could see that the man hadn't had a good nights sleep in some time.

Ignoring the promise of ramen_, _he asked, "How long was I out?" in a low voice.

The sudden question looked to have taken the Hokage back a bit, but answered nonetheless.

"Three days." his voice was controlled, but Minato could hear the concern and anger in it, however subtle it was. _"So you really do care..."_

"...Oh...okay." It was clear that his replies were becoming to worry Sarutobi, the creases in his face becoming more pronounced as the conversation went on.

"Naruto..." he bagan, sounding worried, "Are you sure you're alright?"

A part of him wanted to scream, '_No you f-ing senile old man! I'm not! I DIED!' _but he restrained himself and answered honestly, "I'm just tired.." avoiding answering the question directly. He was sure if he did answer it, it wouldn't be that far off from what he _wanted_ to scream.

Looking resigned and tired himself, Sarutobi said, "Alright, Naruto. Get some rest and I promise we'll go for ramen tomorrow when you're all better."

"Hai, Jiji." Minato said if only to set the man a bit at ease before closing his eyes and letting unconsciousness take hold of his small form once more. Before he completely drifted off, he could hear the soft click of the door shutting behind a retreating Sarutobi.

* * *

As soon as Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage sat back in his office, he couldn't help but let his shoulders sag in relief and guilt. Naruto had been found in an alley way so...so broken. The blood loss was enough to kill his small body... coupled with multiple broken bones and internal injuries, he was nearly certain Naruto was dead. He practically fell to his knees when the thought came, only for it to leave with haste as soon as he saw the small, shallow rises and falls of his chest

As soon as they had gotten him to the hospital, he was put in intensive care, his most trusted doctors and nurses the _only_ ones allowed to even go near him. From everything the boy had been through, he wouldn't put it past a close-minded nurse or doctor to kill the boy while he was unconscious.

How he wished things had turned out differently...If he had been able to explain to the civilians just what Minato had done to seal the Kyuubi before those blasted rumors had spread, then maybe they wouldn't be so hell bent on killing him. Yet at the same time he hated himself for being so helpless to do anything to make Naruto's life easier. He, the Hokage, had been put out by damn politics to help him. The Civilian council wouldn't allow him to be adopted by _anyone_. Even when there were a number of Shinobi clans who were more than willing.

Taking a deep breath, he couldn't help but be worried about how Naruto really was. He had an aching, heart-wrenching feeling that the boys innocence had been utterly destroyed that night. He could see it in Naruto's eyes. Once, they had practically sparkled with childish happiness, and mischief. But now, they seemed to have grown a bit darker, haunted...cautious.

He knew this day would come, what with the boy wanting to be a shinobi so he could become Hokage. He just wished it wasn't so soon. He had wanted to keep the boy innocent for a while yet...to be a _kid_ for just a bit longer.

The Fates seemed to be working against him.

_'I swear, Naruto. I'll do everything I can to help you.'_he thought to himself with a determined glint in his eyes.

There comes a time when enough is enough, and he had most certainly had it.

* * *

Waking up with a groan, but most certainly feeling loads better, Minato opened his eyes to the same empty hospital room. It was official, he was in the body of his son, and would live in it until death. It wasn't some weird induced hallucination, or cruel illusion cast by Shinigami-sama.

This was _real._

He needed to plan, to prepare.

To live.

For _both_ Naruto and him.


	2. Game Start

A/N: Probably the fastest I've updated, but I just can't stop writing! Don't be surprised if I update again tomorrow! But I think that'll be the end of me updating so quickly as Spring Break is officially over for me. Back to college I go! Thanks to those who were kind enough to review and all those who have read thus far!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 2: Game Start

It was official. Minato Namikaze was going to snap.

He had been awake for all of thirty minutes and the doctor (whom he 'remembered' was kind and did his job) just wouldn't stop fussing over him. The aging medic-nin kept prodding the skin where his worst injuries had been, triple checking his charts, and so forth. It was absolutely annoying and unnecessary. So far, they had proved to be worse than when he was stuck in the hospital all those years ago. Sure they fussed over him, especially during the height of the war, but they were never this bad.

Maybe it was because of the war that they didn't have the _luxury_ of fussing over him. He was sure those nurses would be _more_ than happy to take care of him during his recovery. _'Damn fan-girls...'_

Still, his resigned composure during the final check up gave him time to plan a little on how to live as Naruto. From all the memories given to him it was clear his son was a ball of absolute sunshine. Never cried, never complained, never stopped smiling in the face of others...his poor baby boy had learned long ago to keep it all inside. Crying never got anything done. Complaining never changed anything. Anything else only caused pain.

His son had changed his outer appearance just so that people wouldn't hurt him.

Internally, Minato was fighting to maintain control of his KI. It wouldn't do to have him accidentally leak it in front of a medic who was obviously on Sarutobi's good graces. He knew that the Hokage saw Naruto for _Naruto_ rather than the fox, but he knew that he was worried the seal would somehow break or that it was allowing the Kyuubi to influence him. To be honest, it was a little insulting. The seal he had created to contain the Kyuubi was his _best_ work. It was _the_ master piece among master pieces. Hell, he had given his soul to the Shinigami to complete it! Didn't that tell him of the seals power?

Evidently not.

Still, that didn't change the fact that he needed to do everything in his power to change the outlook on his son. At seven years of age he would be starting the Academy soon. It usually started at the end of summer, around September, but after the Kyuubi Attack, the Academy started in the beginning of November and ended at the start of July. Of course, with the way he was now, Minato was sure he could pass the written portion of the graduation exam with little difficulty. Being Hokage, if only for a short while, had caused him to know the ins and outs of _all_ of Konoha's laws. The other aspects such as Mathematics, Language Arts, History and so on were something that only improved with experience. Maybe not history, but for the most part he was pretty sure he _lived_ through the history they would be learning.

What he _really_ needed to work on was the more physical aspects of his ninja career: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. From the feel of his chakra stores, chakra control was going to be a pain to get down. Thanks to the Kyuubi, Naruto was a chakra powerhouse. Thanks to that his stamina was off the charts, which somewhat explained why he could hardly remember being able to sit still for very long. He had too much energy to burn.

Ninjutsu wouldn't come easily as the very first thing he needed to do was get better control. It would take a _very_ long time before he'd be able to walk on the trees, let alone water. Shadow clones would do wonders in helping him, especially since with the amount of chakra he had at his disposal, he was a one man army. But of course he couldn't. Kage Bunshin was a _forbidded_ S-rank technique of the Leaf because of the amount of chakra required and the backlash of memories from the clone. No way would someone just _teach_ a seven year old kid to do that, so all of the sudden being able to do it would be like painting a bright neon sign pointing at him that said: "Here I am! I'm a suspicious person just _begging_ to be sent to the T.I Department!" He'd have to wait till he was able to wrangle it out of one of the Jonins. As for techniques, he should be able to go to the library to read up on the more basic techniques if only to relieve any suspicion, but 'learning' elemental techniques would have to wait till he could find someone to either teach him, or until he was put on a Genin team and ask his Sensei then.

_'Damnit, I'm to young to do _any_ good ninjutsu_!_' _Minato thought to himself.

Working on taijutsu would be simple enough. Going through the katas he remembered secretly before officially learning them in the academy would do him wonders. Maybe he could even sneak out to watch a couple of the Jonins train to make it more plausible that he simply _copied_ what he'd seen should he ever be caught. The best thing about being a kid though, was that no one would think twice about one running around in the city. He could probably make it into some sort of obstacle course to help him further. After all, running around a track or the city limits was a tell-tale sign of training, running around like a little kid was hardly considered training. Other than that, doing pushups, situps, and so forth could be done in the confines of his home was simple enough.

Genjutsu on the other hand would be far more difficult. Like medic-jutsu's, genjutsu required _a lot_ of chakra control and extreme focus. Something that Naruto wouldn't be able to accomplish. Hell, even he had been sub par at genjutsu in his life. So it wasn't a _major_ loss.

He wasn't sure about how he would change the civilians opinion of him before he became a ninja though. Civilians as a whole were idiots. Fearful of anything that was different and completely dependent on the shinobi forces to protect them. The best he could do was _not_ antagonize them in any way, shape, or form. So all the plans Naruto had been making for pranks were thrown out the window completely. At least the ones that targeted the civilian populace. Pranking shinobi would help him in stealth and avoiding the enemy. After all, he would have to re-learn how to mask his presence, and practicing against the higher ranking shinobi would help him greatly in that regard. Besides, pranking was hardly considered training as well, and no one would expect a thing.

_'Hmmm...maybe being a kid isn't so bad...' _It most certainly had it's perks, being able to hide behind the facade of a child would always be able to give him the element of surprise, something that was _always_ an advantage to have as a shinobi.

"Alright, Naruto," the medic, Mizumi Hankuro, said, breaking his train of thought, "looks like you're all healed."

"Finally..." Minato murmured, much to Mizumi's amusement.

"Hokage-sama said to wait for him here so he can take you out to Ichiraku's for-" she looked to the clock and saw it read 12:47p.m, "lunch." The kind smile on her face was enough for Minato to reciprocate it. She seemed to truly care about his health, something that was rare for Naruto. While it was hardly enough, Minato was glad Naruto had gotten a few people in his life that cared for him, and gave him small bouts of sincere happiness.

"Thanks Mizumi-san." He said politely, and while he was sure it wasn't a good thing, Minato was greatly amused by her suddenly shocked expression.

"Ermm... yeah, uh, no problem, Naruto." she stumbled before finally composing herself with the same smile. Was it really that shocking to see Naruto act politely? Considering he called the Hokage 'Jiji' in public would probably make that a 'yes.'

"Ne, Mizumi-san, is there any clothes I could wear? I think mine... umm... they're too ripped." he asked in a low, somewhat shy voice. Ah, thank you years of shinobi deception.

"Oh! Of course, Naruto!" Mizumi said looking a bit flustered, "I'll go bring you some right now!" With that, the kind woman scrambled out of the room leaving Minato to chuckle a bit. She reminded him of Rin, the poor girl always acted so flustered whenever he spoke to her alone or directly, though admittedly she got better at hiding it with time.

_'Rin...'_ The one thought made him realize that some of the people he had left behind were still here. _'Kakashi, Gai, Shikaku, Inoichi, Chouza, Hiashi, Hizashi...hell, even Fugaku...they__'re all still here.' _Of course he could never, or rather wouldn't ever, tell them the truth. After seven years their wounds had been healed, the scars had faded... suddenly telling them that he was in the body of his son would only reopen them and cause them more pain in the end. At least, that was what he continued to tell himself. He knew, from the one glance at Kakashi's solemn face before he performed the seal, that he had hurt the boy in more ways than he could imagine. He was, however, pleasantly surprised to see that Kakashi had truly watched over his son to the best of his abilities as Inu. He was the only one that actually broke up the fights that began, the only one that made sure he got home safe, and the only one to not emit KI toward him. He even 'accidentally' showed himself to Naruto to let him know that there were people who cared about him.

_'Good ol' Kakashi.'_ Minato thought to himself with a grin.

While he couldn't make friends with his old ones, he could make friends with their children. All of whom were near his age. He wondered if the apple did indeed fall far from the tree...

Only time would tell it seemed.

"Here we are!" Mizumi's voice rang in the room causing him to turn to the grinning brunette. In her hands were a folded clump of clothes. "Hokage-sama should be here really soon, so get changed and wait a little while longer for your ramen." she said before turning to let him change in private. As soon as she was out the door, Minato couldn't help but shake his head in amusement and exasperation. It seemed that other than her speech tick of 'datebane,' his son also inherited a near obsessive love for ramen. Though it shouldn't surprise him, during her pregnancy, Kushina had just about every single ramen that was made, or bought in Konoha. She had even sent out a few missions for teams to go pick some up from neighboring cities!

Getting out of the hospital bed, Minato went to the small pile of clothes and saw they were standard kid clothes. A pair of loose fitting black pants, a white regular t-shirt and a warm fitting navy jacket with dark orange cuffs and zipper. Again, as if on some unannounced cue, Sarutobi walked inside the room looking better than he had the day before.

"Ah, Naruto, good to see you're up and about." he said with a relieved smile. "Come on, let's go eat." What surprised him was not that Sarutobi wasn't in his Hokage outfit, but that he had offered his winkled hand for him. _This_ most certainly never happened to Naruto before... though he certainly had tried. The memories of Naruto's indecision to grasp the Hokage's hand as he'd seen so many kids do with their parents came rushing at him suddenly he had to blink a few times to get a firm grasp at reality. He could see the worry in Sarutobi's eyes, especially after his hesitation, so he took the hand slowly and couldn't help but feel a small warmth bloom in the center of his chest.

This was something both Minato and Naruto shared. Neither had the comfort of a family. In life, Minato had been in the orphanage for as long as he could remember. He hardly remembered his mother, and he hadn't a clue as to who his father was. In all honesty, Jiraiya, despite his prevertish tendencies, had been like a father to him, but even then something as small as grasping his hand in comfort had never happened to him.

At least now his son was with his mother, happy with the familial unconditional love a parent gave to their child.

Looking back to Sarutobi, Minato gave the aged man a genuine grin that caused the man to reciprocate it happily.

It didn't take long for the two of them to make it to Ichiraku's Ramen stand, though looking at the glares he had been given by the villagers, he was sure this was one of the reasons Sarutobi had offered his hand. No one would, after all, dare attack Naruto when in the presence of the Hokage.

"Ah! Hokage-sama! What can I get you?" Teuchi Ichikaru asked before turning to Naruto, "There you are, Naruto! We've missed you these past few days!" Minato couldn't help but smile at the man. From everything he remembered, Teuchi was the one who made sure he was well fed, even made him pay less for ramen after seeing how small and skinny he was. He was, after all, their best customer, and never once had they looked at Naruto in a negative light.

"Hi!" Minato said, brightened by the mans grin and genuine happiness to see him. "Can I get miso ramen?" he asked with a wide grin.

"Coming right up! Hokage-sama?" he asked turning to the leader of the village.

"I'll have the same, Tenuchi-san." Sarutobi said with a pleasant grin. He was always happy to see people who cared for Naruto like this. It was so rare to find someone who didn't see him as a demon that he couldn't help but smile.

"Right away, Hokage-sama. Ayame! Two miso!" Teuchi exclaimed to his daughter.

"Got it, tou-san!" the pretty brunette replied. "Hi Naruto! How are you?" she asked happily while getting the ingredients for miso ramen.

"I'm all better now, Ayame-nee!" Minato said as if compelled to call her sister. _'I guess some of Naruto is infused in me now.'_ Minato thought to himself. It would certainly explain a bit and help with becoming his son to the outside world.

"Good to hear, Naruto! I'll get the orders up in just a bit." she replied before turning to help her father.

Ichiraku's had always been a sort of sanctuary to Naruto. Here, he could eat without anyone kicking him out. Here, he could talk happily and openly. Here, they treated him like a _person._

Sarutobi and Minato sat waiting for their food in a comfortable silence, though Sarutobi was a bit concerned that the small blonde hadn't been chatting away in his usual manner. It was just more confirmation that Naruto had changed after that night... and as much as he wished he hadn't, Naruto had lost most, if not all of his innocence that night.

"Ne, jiji?" Minato began toward Sarutobi.

"Yes, Naruto?"

The small blonde looked down from the soft gaze of the Hokage, shifting in his seat to look a bit uncomfortable, if not nervous. "Do...do you think you can teach me that ninja technique?" he began in a soft voice. "The-the one where you poof to look like a different person?" Minato honestly had to applaud his acting skills, he sounded just like a child would.

Sarutobi, on the other hand, looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze, "Why would you want to learn that Naruto?" he asked gently, already dreading the answer. He just knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

Shifting more in his seat, Minato looked up to the Hokage with slightly watered eyes, and said, "We-well...I... I just thought that...that if I didn't look like-like _me_, I wouldn't...they wouldn't hurt me..." he finished in nothing short of a whisper, his eyes looking once again at the wooden counter top.

Hiruzen had to close his eyes for a moment, taking in a single slightly shaking breath before he turned to the boy beside him. Minato's boy, his only son wanting to learn how to change his appearance so that people wouldn't hurt him. How he had failed... completely and utterly failed Minato. Turning to the small blonde, Sarutobi placed a hand on his sagged shoulders causing him to look up at him.

"I'll teach it to you, Naruto." he said with a forced smile, but Minato could see from the look of his sunken eyes that he was actually saying, _'I'm so sorry, Naruto.'_

Even so, Minato smiled happily. This would help him get back to a healthy weight as now he would be able to turn himself into a completely different person to buy his food. No more rotten fruits and vegetables, no more over priced items, no more half ruined clothes... he would be able to get everything the way he was supposed to get them in the first place.

"Okay, while we're waiting I'll tell you a bit about it." Sarutobi began, gaining the full focus of the small blonde, "The technique you're talking about it called the Transformation Technique and is an E-ranked ninjutsu, the lowest and easiest class for ninjutsu. Essentially, it allows the user to change into anything they desire: people, plants, animals, inanimate objects. It's considered one of the harder e-ranked ninjutsu because it requires a constant flow of chakra to keep the form. Chakra, Naruto, is the moulding of both your spiritual and physical energy..."

Minato did his best to look as focused and deeply interested as possible as Sarutobi continued his explanation on chakra and the Transformation technique, but he really didn't want to. This was something that he knew the ins and outs of, heck, he even understood the complicated henge technique Tsunade uses to maintain a younger appearance.

He was silently sighing in relief once Sarutobi showed him the hand seals for the technique and how to feel the chakra flowing through his body as he did so. He purposefully fouled up the first few attempts as would be expected out of a seven year old, untrained kid. On his fourth try, he made himself look like an exact replica of Sarutobi, and started laughing genuinely when said man's pipe fell out of his mouth. Popping out of the technique, Minato had the widest grin plastered on his face.

"See that, jiji!" Minato exclaimed, fully channeling his son, "I'm going to become the best ninja ever!"

Once Sarutobi regained his composure, he couldn't help but smile and chuckle softly at Naruto, overjoyed that he _hadn't_ lost all of his childish innocence.

Ruffling the small blue eyed boy's hair, he said, "I look forward to seeing that day, Naruto."

* * *

The rest of their time together was spent eating and making idle conversation with Teuchi and Ayame before the Hokage had to get back to his office and attempt to win the war against paperwork. Minato could honestly say that, that particular aspect of being Hokage was something he most _definitely_ did not look forward to getting back to.

It. Never. Ended!

Ah, but as a kid, he wouldn't have to deal with _any_ paperwork!

The simple joys of being a child.

Making his way home, Minato kept a soft, polite smile on his face and completely ignored the death glares sent his way. Using the memories that had infused with him, Minato did not look forward to having to clean his shabby apartment. It was expected out of an orphan to not have good leaning habits as those were usually instilled by nagging parents, but Minato would make sure that his home remained as clean as he could possibly keep it.

Even if it would end up trashed at least twice each year...

Not that he could do anything about it. Well, he could, but putting up warding seals which required near mastery at Fuuinjutsu was something he really couldn't do without causing outright suspicion.

Finally making it back to his rundown apartment, Minato opened the door and was immediately attacked by the slightly rancid smell. He could tell that Naruto was used to it, but Minato sure as hell wasn't.

_'Kami, Naruto...I'm so...so, sorry.'_ He thought with tears in his eyes. Even though Shinigami said this was all of no consequence of his actions, he couldn't help but feel completely responsible for the hell his son had to live through.

Taking a deep breath, Minato began to clean his apartment out, ridding it of all trash, all the inedible food, too worn out clothes, and everything he could do without. After throwing the large black plastic bag in the dumpster, his home looked considerably better, if not a bit empty. All he had now was a fairly large bookcase, dresser, nearly broken desk and table, a worn out bed, outdated kitchen appliances, and the occasional spider here and there. Next step, clean _everything_.

So he did. Taking one of the shirts he had saved for this purpose, Minato scrubbed the entire apartment down with the little soap he had and dusted the floor and wooden furniture. He would have made clones to make this all go quicker, but Minato knew he was being watched by ANBU, as they hadn't completely masked their presence since he was a child. While he couldn't tell if the ANBU was a Hyuuga or not, he didn't want to take the risk of their eyes catching him correctly channeling his chakra to make _solid_ clones. So he kept at a steady pace, taking breaks every now and then as his small body demanded.

By the time the sun had set, his apartment looked twenty times better than it had earlier and the smell had nearly completely faded. The next thing he did was take a shower, scrubbing down all the grime and sweat he had managed to produce onto his body. In the morning he would have to go out to buy actual food and not the lifetime supply of cupped ramen he currently had stashed in his cabinets. He would also have to buy some new clothes as well, ones to train in, and more casual clothes. It was a shame, but he wouldn't be able to buy kunai or shuriken until he was an Academy student since he didn't have anyone to buy them for him.

Making himself a cup of beef ramen afterwards, Minato walked over to his room and fell on the small bed, unconsciousness quickly taking over.

* * *

He honestly couldn't get a break.

It seemed, that now that he was _completely _healed, Minato reverted back to his internal clock and woke up bright and early at 5a.m.

_'Damnit...I should have known this would happen...'_ he thought to himself before getting up and fixing the bed. It was too early for the markets to be open, so Minato took to another ramen cup for breakfast. He had to wonder though, it seemed that Naruto's diet was almost always ramen... hadn't he gotten tired of eating the stuff?

A memory of Kushina screaming, _'Ramen is food of the gods, Minato! You can _never_ get tired of ramen!' _came to mind and he realized this was yet another thing he had inherited from his his head, Minato finished the small cup of ramen and he walked over to the long mirror in his room. He figured he would turn into an ordinary plain man, nothing too outstanding to distinguish him in a crowd. So three hand seals and a poof later, a dull looking brown haired, brown eyed young man stood in front of the mirror.

_'Yeah, this'll work.' _he thought to himself before he grabbed his small pouch of money and set off to the markets. While it was still too early for them to be open, the markets were deep in the civilian sector of the city, so it would take a short while walking from his apartment. As he continued to hold up the henge, Minato was practically giddy with really realizing just how much chakra he had at his disposal. With this, he would be able to do techniques he had only theorized because he would never have the chakra required.

_'I'll show them all for you Naruto,' _he thought as he looked to the morning sky, _'I'll show them just how amazing you can be.'_

By the time he had made it to the market sector, the shops were just opening and there were a small number of shoppers looking at their goods. Thanks to his disguise, no one even took a second glance at him and merely gave him everything he needed at their proper prices. He smirked internally at it all, knowing that most of the store owners had kicked him out more than once. As soon as he was content with the food he had bought, Minato set to go back to hi apartment, placing all the food in it's proper places. He had stocked up on milk, juice, fruits, vegetables,rice, and spices he needed to make proper meals. The only thing he lacked was meat, but he would much rather hunt for it on his own rather than pay the prices at the markets. Even without the outrageous prices he would have paid with his true face, they were far too high for an orphan boy living on a monthly allowance.

All he needed to hunt was rope, and a sharp knife, both of which were in his possession. While they were definitely _not_ proper hunting tools, they would simply have to do. Sending out his senses to see if anyone was watching him, Minato sighed in relief to find out that no one was around and quickly formed the seals for the shadow clone technique. When twenty some Naruto's poofed into existence, Minato groaned loudly.

_'I have awful chakra control!'_ It was going to be a pain to get his control back to the way he remembered he had it. Sighing, Minato dispelled all but one clone and charged it with more chakra so that it wouldn't dispel as easily.

"Okay," he said to his clone, "I need you to go to the library and find out everything that's happened in the past seven years, then go to the park and act like a kid. Do not allow yourself to get dispelled. Meet back here at half past eleven."

"You got it boss!" the clone said, saluting to Minato.

"Good. Leave the apartment fifteen minutes after I leave." With that, Minato took off, rope and the sharp kitchen knife in a small backpack on his shoulders. As soon as he was in a small alley way, Minato henged into the same man he was earlier and took off to Training Ground 2, which was deep in the heart of the Konoha Forest. It was also one of the lest frequently used training grounds since most Shinobi preferred a different setting to train in. It was, however, the best place to hunt outside of Training Ground 44, otherwise known as the "Forest of Death" since you were more than likely to be eaten by the things you wanted to hunt. It was hardly rare to see a ten foot evil looking rabbit in that place.

He was a bit surprised at how easily hunting came to him, after all, being in his sons body was no doubt going to have to take a little more getting used to since he had been in a near six foot body when he died. To be suddenly shrunk down was... disconcerting to say the least.

Even so, Minato was able to capture a small number of rabbits and birds in the few hours spent there, more than enough to keep him sated for a while at least. Stuffing his kill inside the backpack, already emptied of their blood, Minato made his way back to his apartment to fully clean out his meat (which was the most annoying part in Minato's opinion.) Still in his henge, he made his way to his apartment, meeting up with his clone on the way there and dispelled it as soon as he knew no one was watching. The memories came in a rush, and Minato wanted to scream at the parents that told their kids he was a demon.

Shrugging it off, knowing he couldn't do anything about it now, Minato silently cleaned the meat, keeping the rabbit fur in hopes of finding a use for them later.

Wanting to do some training, Minato made a quick plumb rice ball and made his way around the city in a decent pace. While he made sure to avoid as many civilians as possible, he could see that they took notice of a boy running around the city like a 'hooligan.' But that didn't stop him. He was disgustingly tired by the end of his self made obstacle course around the village, a distance equivalent to running five times around the city perimeters.

_'Damn,' _he thought, _'I forgot how hard the first few months of real training was like.'_ While his mind was ready for the strain, his body wasn't. Shaking himself to rid of the slight muscle tremors, Minato took to walking around a bit to cool his body down.

"I'll show you!" he heard a voice proclaim, "I will prove that hard work beats genius's!" Curious Minato made his way around the corner where he saw two boys facing each other in the middle of the street. From the looks of the two, the boy who had a bowl cut hair style and bushy eyebrows was the one who screamed.

"You cannot change your fate." one of the boys said. He was tall for an eight or nine year old, his face slightly feminine, but his eyes proved he was a Hyuuga, and from the bandages covering his forehead, a Branch Member. "Fate has decreed you cannot defeat me."

"I will prove you wrong!" the boy said again, fire practically burning in his eyes. The other boy seemed done with the conversation and simply turned to leave without another word. The crowd that had formed around him also dispersed as soon as they realized no fight would happen. The boy that was left stared at the back of the Hyuuga boy, fierce determination in his eyes.

"I will prove it..." the unnamed boy muttered to himself, "I don't care what they say, I will prove it."

Curious, Minato walked toward him, tapping his shoulder so he could get his attention. Once the boy turned around, Minato couldn't help but ask, "Why do you want to prove that?"

The boy stared at him for a while before saying, with fire in his eyes, "Because I will prove I can be better then geniuses! I'm not a dead-last, just because I can't use chakra doesn't mean I can't be a ninja!"

Minato stared at the boy wide eyed. Couldn't use chakra? That was practically a death blow to any ninja career. But the boy in front of him... he couldn't help but feel that it was possible. There were a few number of shinobi in the world who chose to use as little chakra as possible, Maito Gai was one of them.

"What's your name?" Minato asked curious. To be honest, the resemblance between Gai and the boy was...nah, maybe it was just the bushy caterpillar eyebrows.

"Rock Lee!" he exclaimed with a wide grin.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Minato replied easily with a smile, "You know, if you can't use chakra, why don't you just focus on Taijutsu? You don't need chakra for that."

As soon as he finished, Lee's eyes widened in sudden realization. "YOSH! I will become the best Taijutsu specialist Konoha has ever seen!" Lee exclaimed, the fire in his eyes burning crazily. "I haven't seen you in the Academy before?" he said questioningly. Lee was certain he would have noticed him, his blonde hair was kind of hard to not notice.

"No, I'm starting this year though." he replied with a wider grin. Honestly, he wasn't looking forward to five years at the Academy, 'learning' everything all over again.

"YOSH! Then I will help you! We can train together and I will teach you everything I can to prepare you!" Lee exclaimed happily. Minato couldn't help but grin gratefully at the boy. _'Yes! Now I don't have to hide the fact that I'm training! Thank you Lee!'_

"Yeah! Maybe we could ask one of the Jonins for help? I know! Let's go ask Jiji if he knows who we can ask!" Internally, Minato was snickering. Oh, he was going to keep calling the man 'Jiji,' it was way too much fun.

"Jiji?" Lee asked confused.

"Yeah, Hokage-jiji! He'll definitely know who to ask." Minato said while grinning widely.

"You...Hokage-sama is your jiji?" Rock Lee seemed floored by the idea.

Cocking his head to the side, Minato said, "Ummm...I don't think he is really...but he's old and like a jiji to me."

Nodding in acceptance, Lee said, "Okay, let's ask Hokage-sama for help!"

When Minato and Lee began making their way to the Hokage Tower, they spoke of their lives, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. As they continued talking Minato couldn't help but feel he had found a life long friend.

_'I'll help you, Lee.' _Minato thought as he listened to the energetic boy, _'We'll both prove everyone wrong!'_

* * *

_A/N: Reviews are loved and inspire me to update faster!  
_


	3. Where it Begins

A/N: Lawl~ I love you reviews and reviewers! Anyway, here is a new chapter! I honestly can't stop writing guys! It's an amazing feeling! This is the fastest I've EVER updated! Also, I know that Naruto failed his exam... three times(?) so that meant he had to start the academy at five or so to have failed that many times before graduating. I didn't exactly want to make Minato that young, so he's entering the Academy at 7. Will he graduate early? Hmmm, good question. Guess you'll have to wait and see! :D

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 3: Where it Begins

Minato was right. One hundred percent, absolutely correct.

Rock Lee and Maito Gai were like freaky twins...or Lee was some strange nature induced mini-clone of Gai.

Once the pair had arrived at the Hokage's office and asked Sarutobi who they could ask about helping them in their Taijutsu (while maintaining big bright puppy-dog eyes so that the old man _couldn't_ say no) they were introduced to the Jonin, Maito Gai. The man hadn't changed much since Minato had last seen him. He was still as loud as he was seven years ago, and most definitely had the same bleached looking smile, and continued to spout out his somewhat confusing "springtime of youth" and how it burned brightly.

Of course Lee had taken Gai in immediately. If it wasn't the fact that they looked so alike, it was the fact that Maito Gai readily agreed to help the two of them on his spare time. He _was_ after all a Jonin, he had to go on missions to make a living. Minato, however, noticed the small nearly unimportant tapping of his finger the Hokage had been doing when he was talking to Gai about the possibility of training them. He was a bit annoyed that his memories of ANBU morse code was faulty, and he couldn't quite grasp the message he was giving Gai. Though he could guess it had to do with him in some way or another.

"Your flames of youth burn brightly!" he exclaimed to them, displaying his wide pearly white smile at them, "I will help you both, but I won't hold back so be prepared!" From the corner of his eye, Minato saw Sarutobi flinch in sympathy. Gai couldn't be _that_ bad in training...right? Sure he went through insane self induced training regimes when he was alive, but that was mostly just to be able to beat his "Eternal Rival" Kakashi. With that errant thought, Minato wanted to face palm. _'The guy is going to rub us in Kakashi's face and declare he's a better teacher than him so he wins some sort of unsaid competition.'_ Wanting nothing more than to groan, Minato took in a small breath and said,

"I'll do my best not to disappoint you Gai-sensei." bowing to his new teacher in respect. The small action made Sarutobi nearly drop his pipe. He was torn between feeling elated at the change Naruto was showing or crying at the fact that a near death experience caused such a change.

"YOSH! I as well, Gai-sensei! I won't let you down!" Lee exclaimed bowing to the man as well, albeit a little lower than Minato had.

"Good!" Gai said happily, "I have time tomorrow, so meet me at Training Ground 14 at 6a.m. and we'll begin your training!"

"HAI!" the two boys said in unison. While he was somewhat dreading what Gai had in store for them, Minato couldn't deny he was feeling elated at the same time.

"Now, boys," Sarutobi's voice rang out in the room, "I want you both to take this very seriously, while I ask Gai to remember that they are both _only_ seven and eight years old."

Meaning, _'This isn't something I normally do, and Gai, don't make them do anything even close to you're normal training' _Minato couldn't help but smile, at least he wouldn't be thrown in the metaphorical waters without knowing how to swim.

"Of course, Hokage-sama!" Gai exclaimed happily. He would have to make a conscious effort to _not_ over exert the two eager potential shinobi. But could anyone really blame him if he got a little carried away? Their flames of youth burn so brightly!

"Good, good." Sarutobi said with a slightly amused smile, "Now, off with you all and enjoy the rest of your day. Oh, Naruto, here is your monthly allowance, yours as well Lee." he said grabbing two small envelopes and handing them over to the two orphans. On their way to the Tower, both had confessed they were orphans, strengthening the growing bond between the two of them.

"Thanks, jiji!" Minato said with a bright smile. Finally! Now he could probably buy some decent furniture and maybe a new bed.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Lee said gratefully to the Village leader.

"Ne, Lee," Minato began turning to his friend, "want to come with me to buy some stuff? We can race to the market sector!"

"YOSH! Let us see who is the fastest!" Lee exclaimed excitedly, stuffing his envelope in his pocket. "Thank you again, Hokage-sama!" Without another word, both Minato and Lee dashed out of the office at their top speeds, which for the little training they had, was impressive.

* * *

"They are quite energetic!" Gai observed as he watched the boys race to the other side of the village out of the Hokage's window.

"They are indeed." Sarutobi said with a small smile gracing his lips. It was nice to see Naruto act more like himself. Though he wasn't really surprised in this case. From all his time watching the boy, Sarutobi noticed an immediate lack of friends due to those ignorant civilians that told their children, and others, he was a demon. Watching the two boys acting like life-long friends was most pleasing to see, and it was obvious to him that Naruto would do anything to protect and help his first true friend.

Said boy was none other than Rock Lee, and orphan child who just finished his first year at the Academy. According to his file, the young eager student was the bottom of his class, "dead-last" as so many people enjoyed to label the position as much to his annoyance. Though it was hardly his fault. Due to a birth defect the boy was unable to mould chakra, a death blow to most shinobi careers. Even so, he persevered and his Taijutsu was something to take note of, as well as his scores on theory and the other written subjects. His complete lack at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu was simply bringing his scores down. Perhaps he should change the scoring for the boy? It was clear he was eager, and under Gai's tutelage, would no doubt become a force to be reckoned with.

_'I believe I will wait and watch his progress with Gai's training before I decide to do anything.' _Sarutobi thought to himself as he blew his pipe.

"So, Hokage-sama, you wish me to observe Naruto Uzumaki's during this?" Gai asked for clarity. He noticed the ANBU morse code that he was to take both the boys and train them as a mission that would be explained as soon as they left. He figured it would be to watch over the blonde haired boy as it was obvious the Village thought him to be a demon, and had been sent to the hospital on more than one occasion because of it. While it was true Gai held deep resentment for the Kyuubi, he held none for the poor jiinchuriki that was forced to hold it. Only pity and gratitude. He didn't, however, know the boys true parentage.

"Yes," Sarutobi said unsurprised by the Jonin's deduction, "I'm sure you have heard about the incident earlier this week?" With a noticeable flinch, Gai nodded.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Then you should know there have been much changes in Naruto since then. I want you to keep an eye on him, make sure he isn't traumatized and unstable because of the event, and teach him to the best of your ability. I know he will be great one day."

Knowing full well the implications of his assignment, Gai nodded seriously, "Of course, Hokage-sama."

* * *

"I have won this most youthful race!" Lee exclaimed happily as he stopped on the edge of the market sector of the village, Minato only a few seconds behind him. Minato couldn't help but let out a breathy laugh. Just a little while spent with the guy and Lee had picked up Gai's verbal tick.

"In my defense, I ran about five laps before this." Minato said taking deep needed breaths.

"Then we shall do this again another day when you are fully rested!" Lee himself was taking deep breaths also, but looked as though he were prepared to continue running and have no complaint if someone said he couldn't stop until told so. Minato knew after this, without a shadow of a doubt, that Rock Lee would grow to be feared in the Elemental Nations one day.

"For sure!" the blonde replied with his trademark grin, though it was a bit more sincere than his usual ones. Looking out to the bustling market, Minato frowned a bit. Already he could see the glares pointed his way and Lee because he was near him without causing him harm. Turning to face Lee once more, he said, "I have to change really quick, Lee. I'll be right back!" Not waiting for his new friends answer, Minato made his way back a few blocks and ducked into a small alley way to henge into a dull looking eight year old civilian kid. Dark hair, dark eyes, and no outstanding looks; basically a younger version of his older version.

Walking back out calmly in order to blend in with the crowd, Minato made his way back to Lee and couldn't help but smirk at his befuddled expression.

"Hey, I'm back." Minato said with a smile.

"...Naruto?" Lee asked unsure.

"Yup! Jiji taught me the Henge jutsu and I want to practice with it!" A lie, but he doubted a eight year old boy would understand the actual truth. Explaining complex methods on the seals used to cage the Kyuubi was simply information that would well go over the kid's head.

"Amazing, Naruto!" Lee exclaimed with a fist raised to the air, "Training during something so simple! I will strive to do the same!"

Laughing outright now, Minato merely nodded at his friend and suggested they make way to the market and shop.

* * *

It was about two hours later that Minato and Lee had parted ways at his apartment, with a more than enthusiastic goodbye on Lee's part. The boy was someone that Minato, had he not had experience with Gai, would easily be exhausted by. Thankfully, he had experience, so it was far easier to get along with him. By the door were a few bags of items he had bought. A few scrolls on chakra control, as well as a small number of blank ones, a nicer futon, a journal, and a number of ink and pens he would be using to regain a grasp at seals.

He knew that with his current control, it would be beyond stupid to even attempt seal work. Fuuinjutsu demanded some control, but most importantly, complete and utter focus. Besides, he couldn't be caught doing anything _too_ advanced until he found someone to tell him the basics of Fuuinjutsu. Since, for the most part, after that it was all experimental work. Having Jiraiya teach him again came to mind, but having no memory of the man _ever_ coming to see Naruto before made him seriously doubt he would be his teacher in _anything_.

_'Next time I see that damn pervert, he's in for a hell of a lot of pain! I'll make Tsunade look merciful!' _Minato screamed in his mind. He still couldn't believe that the man he considered a father would abandon his son as he had done. He was a bit more, but not so much, lenient on Tsunade. She hadn't particularly been fond of Konoha for obvious reasons, but both she and Jiraiya could have raised Naruto outside of Konoha until he was supposed to take the Genin graduation exam.

Throwing out his current futon and replacing it with the new one, Minato flopped down on it happily. Not even two days here and he cleaned his home, made a new friend, and got himself a teacher! So far, so good. He would have to make sure to ask Gai if there was any chance he could teach him the academy ninjutsu before going, or perhaps simply the theory behind it so he could "figure it out" himself. Already knowing the transformation technique would probably be a good reason to want to learn more. After all, all he needed in order to bring up the Kage Bushin was a failed Academy bushin. Even Gai would be able to tell he had _too_ much chakra to ever be able to perform that low taxing technique.

Taking the few moments to rest his small body, Minato reached for his new brown leather-bound journal. He had a number of filled journals hidden away in the Namikaze manor, along with the entire family fortune, heirlooms, and scrolls on both Kushina's and his own techniques. The estate would have been the first thing to get back to, but he had foolishly (at least in retrospect) keyed Sarutobi in the seals so should anyone ever open them up again, he would know immediately. _So_ he wouldn't be able to even touch the Namikaze grounds until the man told him of his true parentage.

_'Damnit...th__at would have helped out so much.' _he thought to himself as he began to write a detailed entry about his past couple of days.

It wasn't a surprise to him when he left three filled pages in his journal a short time afterward. He had always described his days with detailed clarity. He used the entries to relive his more pleasant memories, and for when he needed to remember a certain event for war planning. Now, he would do the same to see in a couple of years where he had began and how far he had progressed.

There was still some time for him to get things done, so Minato once again released his senses in order to see if anyone was watching him. Once finding there was no one, he made a small number of clones, commanding each of them to henge into a completely other person, both his age and older and sent them out to different training grounds to work on chakra control while he himself was off to the "Forest of Death" to do more strenuous training. The nature chakra the place emitted was more than enough to mask his small body, especially if he made it to the far end of the forest that neared the border of Konoha.

It wasn't too difficult sneaking his way to the training ground. Many people, for good reasons, strayed away from the place and it's surrounding areas. As soon as he was far enough in, Minato made a score of clones, having them pair up and spar while he himself began to go through the beginning steps of his infamous Rasengan. This time, he planned to complete the technique and successfully add on the elemental aspect to the swirling ball of chakra. Right now, he was simply concerned with getting back to being able to perform the technique.

He continued till the sun overhead began to make it's decent, leaving the sky to shift to a vibrant mix of orange, red, and yellow with a darkening sky trailing it not far behind. Sending a mental command to his clones, the ones in the other training grounds immediately dispelled themselves, the memories of their training attacking him immediately. Waiting a few seconds, he dispelled the others in small groups with a five second interval between each dispelling so he wouldn't be inflicted with a headache.

One of his clones gave him the memories of a small boy, an Uchiha from the red fan on the back of his shirt, watching him intensely. He didn't seem to have any training, otherwise he would have masked his presence. Instead it seemed the boy was content with simply watching him. Thankfully, the clone did nothing to advertise the fact that he knew the boy was watching him, and when he was given the command to dispel, had made his way out of the boys line of sight.

_'He looked about Naruto's...my(?) age.' _Minato thought to himself before disregarding the event all together. The boy could be any number of children born to the Uchiha clan around the time Naruto was born. He could even be the youngest son of the Clan Head, Fugaku for all he knew, or the son of a civilian hoping to one day be a shinobi like so many of his clan.

With his body shaking, Minato made his way home slowly, the sky blackened completely by the time he had made it to the front of his apartment door, leaving on the street lights to illuminate the streets. Rubbing his eyes, Minato went to the kitchen to make himself a much needed dinner. With the help of a shadow clone, his food that consisted of well cooked rabbit meat, rice, and a large number of steamed vegetables was readily waiting on the table for him to eat.

The food, he realized, tasted fantastically. He knew he was a good cook, but certainly not of this caliber. _'He's never been able to eat anything like this...' _Minato thought to himself as he stared sadly at his meal. His Naruto was at a time forced to dumpster dive to get go to sleep without the pain of an empty stomach. His Naruto had been forced to eat rotten fruits to get even the smallest of nutrition. His Naruto had been forced to eat the cheapest of cupped ramen constantly because that was all anyone was willing to sell to him.

He realized he was crying when he took a small bundle of soaked rice in his mouth, but continued eating regardless of the freely falling tears. _'You're happy now, Naruto, aren't you?'_ the unspoken question remained unanswered, only his gut and the words of the Death god giving him comfort. As the meal was finished, Minato made his way to shower before falling on his futon, dried and dressed, allowing his drooping eyes to close and sleep to take over.

* * *

A/N: Gah, I can't get Gai's personality right... also don't remember much on Lee's background... damn, I need to go re-read Naruto. Also, classes this quarter are going to be super~ time demanding, sooooo while I hope to still be able to update as quickly as I have the past few days, I most probably won't... Also, sorry not a lot happened this chapter, but I'm working reaaaalllyyy hard on Gai's training and who he'll meet next and what not. So, think of this more like a filler I guess. I swear you won't be disappointed next chapter (which should be posted in the next few days.)

Reviews are loved~


	4. To Say Hello Again

A/N: Thank you everyone who has taken the time to read and review this story. I find it extremely humbling when I read that many of you find this story emotionally pulling. It's a great self achievement to hear that you, the readers, choke on the words. Truly, thank you all for your encouraging words and I hope not to disappoint you as this story progresses!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 4: To Say Hello Again

Like the day before, Minato woke bright and early at 5a.m. It was the perfect time to wake up as his first day of training with Gai was in an hour at Training Ground 14. Not wanting to waste any time, he scrambled out of his futon, leaving a mess of blankets strewn over it before heading to his dresser and changing into proper training clothes.

He donned simple black pants that had a number of pockets that could be used to store both shuriken and kunai, a form fitting dark blue shirt that stretched well with his movements and comfortable shoes that were fit for running and anything else the Taijutsu specialist would demand of him. After wards, he didn't bother brushing his hair, he was going to work out, not go on a date or some important meeting. He did, however, brush his teeth and put on a heavy amount of deodorant. He most certainly did _not_ want to smell! That was simply one of the many things Minato would always value; self hygiene. Which was probably why he had such trouble talking and being close to the Inuzuka's as they always had a small lingering smell of wet dog.

Once done with that, he went and made himself a simple small breakfast, not wanting to eat too much and cause him to hurl later on during the training. A simple plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and a healthy cup of milk later, Minato was more than prepared for anything Gai had in store for him. Looking at the clock hung on the far wall of his living room area, he noticed he had fifteen minutes before 6. With a small stretch of his arms, Minato exited his apartment, locking the doors many locks, and headed out with himself, and a small bag filled with a bottle of water, bandages (just in case) and his house keys. At his top speed, he would make it to the training ground with more than enough time to spare, so he decided to take his time and let the food settle more in his stomach, leaving him to arrive just on time.

As he entered the heart of Training Ground 14, Minato saw that Lee was already waiting and doing the basic Academy stretches in preparation.

"Ah, Naruto! So you have arrived!" Lee exclaimed, stopping his stretching and walked over to his new friend. Minato greeted him with a wide grin, his hands resting at the back of his head.

"Hey, Lee! See you're here early!"

"Yes! I simply could not wait to begin our training!" the boy said with vigor. Shaking his head amused, Minato said,

"You know, as a shinobi, we should always strive to be on time." Once he knew that Lee's focus was solely on what he was saying, he continued, "If we're early, then we could be caught in an ambush. If we're late, we could be too late to do anything to help."

His after thoughts lingered on the small Uchiha boy that he had taught once upon a time. Obito Uchiha was by far the most un-Uchiha he had ever met. Rather than his face being in a permanent superior expression, the boy wore his emotions clearly on his face, and was never one to shy away from crying in public. The boy who was _always_ late to their training sessions with the most outrageous excuses, Minato couldn't help but laugh as they got more and more ridiculous. Honestly, who would believe, 'A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around and then I got lost on the road of life'? The memory of his past student brought a small frown to his face, before he wiped it clean off when he realized he didn't have the time to be thinking about his past, and turned his entire focus back to reality with one small promise to visit the Memorial Stone.

Before Lee could comment on that, Maito Gai made his, "Dramatic Entrance!" with a swirl of smoke and leaves leaving Lee practically star-struck at the sight. Standing in what he deemed his, "Good Guy Pose," Gai looked at his youngest new student with a slightly calculating gleam in his eyes before exclaiming in a much too loud voice for the morning,

"Young Naruto is correct! We must always be prepared for anything! Being too early or too late could be detrimental to any mission!" While the calculating look was masked in his eyes now, Minato mentally groaned. He really needed to be more careful from now on.

"HAI Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed with a small salute, "I shall always be on time from now on!"

"That is good my most youthful students!" Gai more than happily exclaimed. "Now, onto the training! First, we stretch!"

"HAI!" Both the boys exclaimed. They spent a fair amount of time stretching their muscles in preparation for what was to come. While he wasn't expecting it to be scarcely close to how harshly he trained during his prime, but with Gai (even with the the Hokage's order) would be _very_ strenuous on his small seven year old body.

Boy was he horribly, horribly right.

The moment they were done, Gai handed them their very own training weights. Four each, two each arm, and the other two for each leg. While each weight held a mere two pounds, the extra eight pounds actually made a difference. At first it felt like nothing, but as Gai made them continue to run around the training ground, Minato and Lee found it harder and harder to maintain the same pace they began, and started to slow down. It was the moment they felt as though their legs were going to turn to putty, that Gai had them stop. Of course that was after twenty-some laps. Without waiting much time for them to rest their small bodies, as Gai believed they lost momentum that way, he had them do three sets of pushups, situps, and squats that had his body absolutely burning.

He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had sweat so much, or felt so much pain rippling through his muscles.

Looking to Lee, it was obvious he felt the same way. Regardless, both boys never uttered a word of complaint. He knew that he couldn't do any actual techniques until he built up his body strength and agility. At least out in the open; however desperately he wanted to show off and be deemed a prodigy. He still could be deemed a prodigy of course, and the Hokage would accept it without much doubt. During his life, he was Rookie of the Year, and surpassed the older, and his own generation in strength, intelligence, and skill. He was deemed a prodigy because of his near photographic memory and his ability at absorbing information and techniques like a dry sponge. If not from him, then from Kushina. She was one of the best, if not _the_ best Kunoichi in the Leaf during their life.

But, that would have to wait a bit longer. At least he could show his potential in this training and then much more during the Academy. He would do _everything_ possible to skip at least a single grade. The first few years of the Academy were torture the first time. He did not need to relearn basic reading, writing, and history from the school all over again, or in this case, "the first time." He most certainly wouldn't mind the possibility of being put on Lee's Genin team. By the time they should be graduating, the two would have unmatchable teamwork because of their training and friendship.

It was at the near end of their training session with Gai that Minato saw the heartwarming familiar face of his past masked student. '_Kakashi.' _he thought as he looked at the older version of his student he left behind seven years ago. He was twenty-one now, if his math was correct. He had missed out on his twenty-first birthday... he had missed his first _legal_ drink. By the gods, he had missed so much.

Doing everything to keep his face as passive as he could, Minato stared with sweat dripping from his face freely as Gai greeted him.

"AH! MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" he screamed, pointing a finger dramatically at Kakashi, "You have finally chosen to make an appearance!"

Kakashi on the other hand, had his face nose deep in an oh so familiar orange book.

_'Damnit!'_ he mentally cursed,_ 'When did Jiraiya corrupt my student!? I'll strangle that man!' _Minato thought furiously frustrated at the man while keeping a natural looking confused expression on his face. He couldn't have an ounce of recognition in his face, it wasn't as if Kakashi had ever introduced himself as the Inu ANBU before, or any time before.

"Hmm?" Kakashi said with a bored expression in his visible eye, "You say something?"

Gai, on the other hand, simple shook his head before exclaiming, "Ah, Kakashi! You and your hip attitude! Enough of that, you are very late!"

"A shinobi should always be on time!" Lee proclaimed with a raised fist. It was obvious he had taken what both Gai and he had said to heart.

"Sorry, there was an old lady who dropped her groceries, so I had to help. Then she kept me for tea and I couldn't just say no." he said in a deadpanned voice while his eye crinkled into a familiar eye-smile. While both Gai and Lee looked at him with mirrored disbelieving expressions, Minato could scarcely contain the sorrow he felt for his student.

_'Is this how you grieve for your friend, Kakashi?' _he thought to himself, _'Is this how you remember him?'_

One look in Kakashi's slightly narrowed eyes, Minato wiped the look to keep an innocently confused expression.

"Let me introduce you to my most youthful students!" his part-time teacher said to his eternal rival, "This is Rock Lee, and Naruto Uzumaki! Boys, this is Kakashi Hatake! "

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei!" Lee said exclaimed with a small bow.

"Hello Kakasi-senpai." Minato was able to make out without any hesitation. It was _way_ to weird to even consider Kakashi his teacher when it was _him_ who had taught the boy when he was younger. Near the end of his life, he was happy to admit there their relationship was similar to that of an older brother, or another father type figure. He could imagine how badly Minato had hurt him when he willingly left him and the rest of the realm of the living.

"Yo." he replied with a small wave of his hand, his other still grasping the damned orange book.

"I have asked Kakashi here to help oversee your training!" Gai said happily with his bleached smile. Lee looked upon both their teachers with a new fire burning in his eyes, while Minato simply couldn't help the surprised expression fall upon his face.

Oh the irony. _His_ student was going to teach him. Well...at least soon. He doubted Kakashi's role as 'overseer' would last very long with the way Lee and Gai got along so fantastically. It wouldn't be a surprise if Lee became Gai's apprentice, and he would be ecstatic for his friend should that happen.

Even so, it took everything in Minato's power not to fall to the ground and laugh hysterically.

Doing everything in order to keep his voice calm and even, Minato finally said, "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." _'That's just_ _too weird.'_ he thought to himself while keeping eye contact with his old student.

"Hai! Thank you very much Kakashi-sensei!" Lee exclaimed in a loud voice.

"Hn, you've done to much to do anything today else. Next time I'll let you know how you're doing." Kakashi said while reading his book, letting out a small perverted giggle escape his lips as he turned the page.

Oh he was _definitely_ going to strangle Jiraiya!

"Yes! You both did wonderfully today! We shall train again like we did this morning in four days! For now, rest, and prepare, for it will only get harder! I also ask that you keep your weights on at all time, it will help you greatly." Gai said to the two.

"Hai!" both Minato and Lee agreed in unison before watching both Kakashi and Gai disappear in a swirl of leaves and smoke.

Wanting to look like the child he was supposed to be, Minato mumbled loudly enough for Lee to hear, "I _so_ have to learn that."

"YOSH! Today was most wonderful! I shall train like today before we train with them again!" Lee proclaimed with visible fires burning in his eyes. 'Weird...' he thought to himself,_ 'I would say that's a genjutsu...but that's not possible.'_

Brushing the thought aside, Minato took a few slightly shaky breaths before turning to his friend, "I'll join you, Lee, but right now I think it'd be best if we both got something to eat."

"You're right, Naruto! We should eat to regain our strength and rest for training tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's go to that BBQ House." Minato sugggested with a smile.

"YOSH! A good idea! Let us go!"

* * *

"So what do you think?" Maito Gai asked his long time friend and rival seriously.

Taking an unusual pensive face, Kakashi thought back on the time he watched the two boys, more specifically, Naruto Uzumaki, during their training. Anyone with even the slightest shinobi training would be able to see that Naruto walked with grace only experienced shinobi had. Additionally, the bonde, who was nearly killed a few days prior, had took everything that Gai was telling them with a knowing look in his eyes. As though Gai were only restating something he already had drilled into him. What caught his eye most of all, however, was when he had first shown himself to the boys. In Naruto's sky-blue eyes were an unmistakeable look of deep sorrow directed at him. It didn't make sense for him to have such an expression, especially not one directed at him since he had never openly met the child before this.

Kakashi didn't know exactly what to make of his late Sensei's son. A few days ago, he would have said that the boy was like any other; loud, happy, and full of childish innocence. Now, it was as though he were a completely different person. His eyes practically glowed with experience and... and pain no child should ever know.

He knew that Naruto was never dealt a fair hand at life. From the moment he was born, Naruto was chosen as the villages scapegoat, it's pariah. The boy never knew the love of a parent, nor the comfort and warmth of a home. The orphan boy knew no comforts that of any other children born into the village knew.

As ANBU, Kakashi had seen the worst of it all. He had come across the boy surrounded by shinobi and civilian alike kicking and punching the boy mercilessly. He had seen with his own eyes as the boy stabbed repeatedly and nailed to an alley wall. He had nearly watched a drunken civilian burn Naruto alive. Each time, he was just shy from preventing the attacks from happening. Every time, Kakashi had barely made it in time to save him from death. Each time, Kakashi knew he failed his teacher, and father-figure. It killed him to know that the ANBU Commander was forcing Kakashi to have the later shifts for when he was asked to protect the Yondaime's legacy, making him disregard the fact that he was Captain. He knew that masked bastard enjoyed watching Kakashi struggle harder and harder each time to save Naruto from the attacks. He was getting closer and closer to simply killing the man.

Yet, even so, the small boy, who lived his own personal hell on earth, still continued to smile. The small boy still continued to laugh as though the world could do no wrong. The small boy still continued to dream, and run, and play as though he hadn't been scorned, thrown out of shops, or starved all his life. He was, simply put, an amazing and pure child.

Today had shown that, that child was now gone. He still showed some of the same childish antics, but they seemed more forced than genuine.

Looking to his friend, Kakashi said, "I'm not sure what to think. But something isn't right, he moves as though he's been training for years."

"I thought the same." Gai admitted, "Do you think it has to do with his...tenant?" he asked, not wanting to believe the demon was influencing the boy.

Kakashi had thought it was a possibility as well, but the very thought that the demon took control over Naruto was something he _couldn't_ think about without pain eloping his heart. Even so, he couldn't deny it was plausible. "We cannot know anything know anything for certain, yet." Kakashi said, "But we need to report to the Hokage, and see what he believes is the best course of action."

Nodding seriously, Gai and Kakashi shushin'ed to the Hokage's Office.

* * *

After having lunch with Lee, the two went their separate ways. Lee went off to go home to rest before he began training again, while Minato left to walk around the streets of Konoha, knowing full well of the ANBU that was trailing him. Minato thought he might go see if he could catch a glimpse of his old friends. He knew that the only one he had a chance of seeing casually was Inoichi, as he always made it a point to work in his clan shop personally, along with his wife, and if memory serves, his daughter as well.

He remembered when little Ino was born, a few months shy from Naruto's own. She was a perfect mix of both Inoichi and his wife, taking his blonde hair and her mothers eyes. When Inoichi's wife was going into labor, they, meaning Minato, Chouza, Hiashi and Hizashi, were all out drinking, talking about their wives, and simply having a good time. They had been in a drunken stupor when Inoichi's clan member came rushing in, babbling up a storm about his wife being in the hospital. Even though the boy continued to repeat that his wife was in labor, it took over five minutes before he finally got what he was trying to say and rushed to the hospital. The sight of a red faced panicked Inoichi would forever be engraved into his mind; it was simply a priceless moment in his life. That, and the look of sheer and utter love in his friends eyes when he presented his daughter Ino to him.

_'I wish I could tell you all I am here...'_ he thought to himself sadly as he walked toward the Yamanaka's Flower Shop. _'I wish I could tell you all I was sorry. Tell you all I'm sorry for not saying goodbye.'_

As soon as he made it to the front of the store, the scent of freshly cut flowers assaulted his senses, leaving him feeling calmer, and serene. Taking in a deep breath, Minato walked into the shop, immediately greeted by none other than Inoichi himself.

"How can I help you today?" he asked in a polite voice. Minato knew that he was one of the few in the village that actually knew Naruto was his son. While he was disappointed none of his friends ever took Naruto in, he knew that they would have fought tooth and nail to adopt the son of their late friend. He was sure, when the Hokage decided he was old enough to know his true lineage, he would discover why they hadn't adopted him, and why they hadn't done much, if anything, to help him throughout his life.

Looking up at his friend shyly, Minato said, "I wanted to get some flowers... for... umm... a memorial."

Inoichi looked at the small boy in front of him and couldn't hide his surprise. For one, he was surprised that his best friends son was in his shop, but shocked that he was asking for flowers specifically for a memorial.

"May I ask why you want flowers for a memorial?" he asked, unable to hold the question back.

A bit startled that his friend, who was a certified therapist, would ask such a personal question so bluntly, he decided to answer honestly. "I.. Hokage-jiji told me that my parents died protecting the village from the Kyuubi... I never...um...thanked them for saving me and the village...so I thought I could do it now..." he said not looking at his friend and rather found a certain spot on the floor to be far more interesting.

Taking a deep breath, Inoichi had to stop himself from telling Naruto that his father was the sole reason the Village wasn't burnt to the ground. The reason that everyone was still alive and well. That his father was _the_ hero among heroes. That his mother was the best kunoichi in the Village. That his parents loved him with all their heart. That he wasn't a demon, just the jailor, and should be treated as a hero for the burden he had to bear. But in doing so, he would break the damned SS-rank Village secret and Law the Sandaime Hokage placed shortly after Naruto's birth and personally sign his death certificate.

"I see," he finally said with a sorrowful glint in his eyes, "I have the perfect thing for that." leaving the small blonde-haired whiskered child for a moment, Inoichi picked up a small bundle of flowers, the combination of flowers that meant remembrance, thanks and love. "Here you are." he said kneeling down to the boy's height and handed him the small bundle.

"Thank you." Minato said with a small bow, "How much do I owe you?"

With a kind smile, Inoichi merely shook his head, "Just keep them, and pay respect to your parents for me."

"Thank you very much!" Minato said with a genuine grin. He knew he could count on his friend to show kindness to his son, even though he couldn't openly. Had he lived, he would have protected Naruto from anything and everything, for Inoichi, openly protecting Naruto or having his family show him any kindness, would bring the villages wrath upon his family and that was something he could not do, no matter how hard it was to see his friend's son suffer. At least in the confines of his shop, he could show the boy a small kindness.

With a happy smile, Minato left the shop and continued on his way home. He couldn't go specifically to the Memorial Stone, as the ANBU was still trailing him, but he could place them on his apartment windowsill and pray that his son and wife were happy with Kami. That his son was finally feeling the comfort and love from the embrace of his mother. That Naruto was feeling truly safe for the first time in his life. That his Naruto was finally truly happy.

When he made it home, it was mid-afternoon. The sun glazing his back with a warmth that Kushina's smile always brought him. Bounding into his apartment, Minato placed the bundle of flowers in a small vase and placed it on the windowsill. With a smile of his own, Minato turned to leave his apartment once more, deciding to spend the rest of his day in the library reading up on the history of Konoha. Soon, he would be starting the Academy; the start of the year was a mere couple of weeks away. Minato had every intention on making his son considered a prodigy, and to his friend, a "genius of hard work."

_'Watch me, Naruto. Watch me as your dreams become a reality.'_

* * *

A/N: I don't like this...sorry.  
Reviews are _loved__!_


	5. Academy Days: Hajime!

A/N: Lo-sing momentum...NOOOO! Must...Not...Lose...muse...for...sto...ry... -_-'' Hopefully I won't, since you all have been so great. Love the reviews everyone! You are all amazing, and everyone who reads is loved forever! Quick question, just because I would love to hear/read what you have to say. Is there anything in this story that you are really hoping to see? Other than pairings because that is still up in the air for obvious reasons... please let me know!

Heartless Lotus: *is glomped* ...hmmm, hugs for all you fantastic readers? :D

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 5: Academy Days: Hajime!

"This is most troubling." Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed out, his face drawn in a deep frown filled with worry. Both Gai and Kakashi had just reported in after their first training session with Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki. The report was concerning, to say the least. To believe in the possibility that Naruto was being influenced by the Kyuubi was more than worrying. As Hokage, it was his duty to deal with potential threats to Konohagakure, but to think that a little boy just turned seven could fit in that category was heart breaking. More so to know that this little boy was the son of his friend, and that the influence something that was out of his control, no doubt due by the pain and suffering he had to go through.

Both Kakashi and Gai couldn't help but agree. Neither held any hatred toward the boy, and only wanted to give him the best they could offer without bringing upon the wrath of Konoha, and many of the council upon themselves, helping neither party in the end. Kakashi had to bite his tongue when remembering that council meeting. It had been no more than an hour after Minato Namikaze, his father-figure, had sealed the Kyuubi in his son and sacrificed himself as payment to the Shinigami. The entire council, at the start, had all demanded for the newborns death, just so that they would be rid of the Kyuubi once and for all. A newborn babe _completely_ innocent! It took nearly half an hour to calm the entire council down so that Sarutobi could explain everything that had happened during the sealing. The fact that even after Sarutobi explained, in _great_ detail, about the sealing techniques, the entire civilian council and two of the advisers still demanded for his death made him want to murder them all on the spot, and he wasn't the only one; the entire Shinobi council, and Hokage all projected their KI toward the civilians.

It had come down to the point where nearly every head of the Shinobi council offered to adopt the boy, even Fugaku Uchiha, which was surprising to nearly the entire council room, save for Kakashi. He had seen and recognized the rival type of friendship that Fugaku had shared with Minato. They never openly admitted into being friends, in fact, they openly denied even remotely liking each other, but he had seen the tell tale signs of friendship, however buried under insults and scowls. Of course, none of that mattered as the advisors, and the entire civilian council proclaimed that the boy should be sent off to the orphanage as was due for all the lives the Kyuubi had taken from the civilian populace, disregarding the fact that the Shinobi side had lost equal to, if not more people, than the civilians.

That, and Naruto would not be allowed to be adopted, as they wholeheartedly feared the Kyuubi would erupt from the seal and kill an innocent family, or some other bullshit they were sputtering. Either way, the Hokage was cowed into their demands and allowed Naruto to be raised without love...without the basic needs for a child. A part of Kakashi still hated the Hokage for being so easily controlled. He was _the _Sandaime Hokage, the "God of Shinobi" for Kami's sake! How he could have allowed _any_ child, regardless of lineage, to live the life Naruto has without doing _anything_ about it, was beyond him. But at the same time, he could not blame him, for he hadn't done anything either, save for stopping the attacks before they got too far.

That would change.

He swore it.

"We need to watch him closely from now on, and I need you, Kakashi, to see if the seal is still intact. If it's disrupted, I'll have to keep him and bring Jiraiya back so he can do something about it." _'I will not allow Naruto to be taken by that monster.' _was left unsaid, but heard all the same.

"Hai. I will take a look at the seal as soon as possible and report back." Kakashi replied purely serious.

"Good, Gai, test his knowledge on taijutsu, the way you describe this it seems he _already_ knows the Academy basics. If he displays more advanced stances, we need to know _where_ he learned them."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, I will do so." Gai answered with a small bow.

"You are dismissed, report back after your next training session, or if you see something suspicious."

"Hai!" they both saluted before shushin'ing off, and leaving the aging Hokage behind.

_'I won't let you be taken by the Kyuubi, Naruto. I'll protect you, from now on until my dying day.'_

* * *

The few weeks before the start of the academy passed in a blur. Every day Minato spent was relatively the same as the others. Wake up, eat, train, eat, study, get glared at or told he was a "demon", play an incredibly inventive prank on the shinobi forces, rest, and repeat. He had come far in the few weeks of training daily with Lee. Both of them kept with the same training regime Gai had them do whenever he wasn't available. Ever so often, if would be just Kakashi who would watch over them, and make sure they didn't do anything that would harm them. He could tell from the intensive stares Kakashi gave him, that he was being watched. The amount of ANBU that were watching him now made it impossible to make _any_ sort of clones, or do anything he would have wanted like elemental training and attempting to finish his Rasengan. So, all he had been able to do in the few weeks, was read very _kid_ friendly books and scrolls, body strength training, the basics of taijutsu, and eating ramen at least two times a week to halt some suspicion, and keep Teuchi and Ayame company.

Minato thought it odd, actually, that he hadn't been called to see the Hokage since Kakashi and Gai began to watch him. Though he wouldn't be surprised if he were called after a while in the Academy; no doubt the old man was going to get every single one of the teachers to observe him and his progress in every class. In which case, he would have to make sure to _really _dumb himself down, lest he wanted to have a lovely little chat with Ibiki, who he had heard _really_ began to enjoy his job at the I.T Department. How such a kind little boy became the best interrogator Konoha had seen in generations was beyond him.

Either way, he would be called in soon. _How_ he was going to explain his obvious knowledge in a plausible way was still beyond him. He had thought to play the ignorant child, but that would get him a one way ticket to Ibiki. He had thought to tell the truth, but that would get him sent to Inoichi and leave _way_ too many questions he honestly did not want to answer. They would all lead to the bodily harm of the majority of Konoha, including the Hokage, for what they had done to his son. He thought of other possible believable lies, but those were all immediately thrown to the side.

_'This is not good.' _Minato groaned inwardly as he finally woke up. It was the start of his Academy life, where he would spend the next five antagonizing years relearning everything he'd been practicing for _years_.

Getting up, Minato took a quick shower, if only to spend a bit of the morning away as the Academy didn't start till 8a.m. and it was, like every morning, only 5a.m. Afterwards, he changed into his shinobi gear, knowing all to well that the first year was meant to push out all those who _shouldn't _be shinobi. Rather than easing the students in, slowly preparing them for the life of a shinobi, they pushed them harshly. The grading system was tougher, the physical training was harsher, and over all, everything was much more difficult for first year students than in comparison to second year students in hopes of 'weeding out' those who could never become true shinobi.

After the changing, Minato brushed both his hair and teeth, trying and failing to do something about his extremely unmanageable mop of hair. Sighing lightly to himself that his son had inherited his hair rather than the ever so manageable red locks Kushina had, he made his way to the kitchen to make himself a hearty breakfast for what he knew was coming. He couldn't deny that he was partially looking forward to the first day of the Academy. From what he heard, he would be in the same class as many of his friends children, such as Inoichi and Hiashi's little girls Ino and Hinata, Chouza and Shikaku's boys Chouji and Shikamaru.

_'I can't have the friends I once had,' _he thought to himself, _'but I can make new friends.'_

Finishing breakfast, Minato gathered the left overs in their respective cooking pots and pans, and placed them in a bento box, fully intent on having the meal for lunch rather than paying an undoubtedly raised price at the Academy cafeteria. Looking to the clock, he still had a bit till 8a.m. but decided to begin his trek to the building anyways. He didn't want to deal with any stares, glares, or 'demon brat!' being yelled at him so early in the morning, so he took to the side streets, weaving through the back alleys of Konoha with grace. It saddened him to know that this experience, the first day of the Academy, could not be spent with Naruto as father and son. Naruto couldn't have rested on his shoulders, sitting above all the onlookers as the Yondaime dropped his son off for his first day, a look of unmistakeable pride and happiness painted on his face. Naruto couldn't pull on his fathers arm with anticipation, nor hug _both_ his parents as he makes his way into class.

That experience was lost to him the moment both Minato and Kushina died.

Forever a dream since _Naruto_ had died.

In that moment, Minato was glad he had taken the side alleys for another reason.

He didn't want anyone to see or question why he was crying.

Only a few blocks away from the school, Minato stopped to wipe his eyes and place a small henge to make them appear normal rather than red a puffy, and his complexion clear of tear stains and inflamed cheeks. Breathing in deep breaths, Minato continued to the school and watched with an unconcerned face as parents dropped off their children. He immediately saw his friends smiling down on their children, undoubtedly expecting great things from them. One face, however, brought a concerned frown upon his own. It was the ever expressionless face of Hiashi Hyuuga as he stared down his daughter, Hinata. The poor girl looked as though she were about to keel over any second, yet Hiashi looked unperturbed, from his moving lips and her flinches, he was speaking to her about _something_ that continued to break down her confidence levels.

Another face also caught his attention, and that was one known as Fugaku Uchiha. The man still maintained his 'Uchiha scowl,' as though he had been born with such an expression, as he practically _glared_ at what he presumed was his son. The boy, he realized, was the same that had watched him train those few weeks ago.

_'So you're Sasuke...'_ he thought to himself as he diverted his attention elsewhere, while continuing a discrete eye on the pair. He was a little more than surprised that Sasuke was starting the Academy with Naruto, or him, he should say. Itachi, his older brother, had already graduated from the Academy at their age, and mastered the Sharingan not long after. Internally wincing at the thought, he didn't want to imagine the type of pressure Fugaku was putting on his youngest (least to his knowledge) son. He could already imagine his voice lecturing the boy on the fact that his elder brother had already completed that which he had yet to do so.

Fugaku was always a competitive man, one who greatly sought respect and recognition for everything he did. It was one of the main things Minato had planned to address during his time as Hokage. He knew what a great asset the Uchiha were to the village, especially due to their majority in the police department. He knew that they were constantly being put down because of old grievances with the Senju, and the bad blood between them due to the incident with Madara and the Nidaime Hokage. He knew that Sarutobi had done nothing to help them as he was close the their Senju Hokage's, and continued to let the hatred fester.

Minato, as his rival and friend, had planned to fully recognize the Uchiha clan and give them the recognition they had _earned_ time and time again.

_'But I died before I could do anything... and now you are trying to get your sons to be your way to what you so dearly desire. Even if it means hurting them gravely in the process.'_ Minato thought to himself sadly.

He didn't have much of a chance to do much else than look before a man with a vertical scar across his nose and stretching to his cheeks called their names and sorted them into different classrooms. As the names were called, Minato heard that he would be in the classroom with nearly every single child of the clan leaders in his year, as well as some civilian children he could already see most would not make it past the first year. Looking to the man that would be his teacher, the same man who called out the names, Minato couldn't help but think he looked awfully familiar. He would have been no more than a boy when he had died, but even so, there was something that struck his memory softly.

Once the parents had left, and their children sauntered into the building, Minato did the same, and followed quietly behind the mass of young children who were all chatting loudly and excitedly about their future days in the Academy and how they were going to be Rookie of the Year. It was amusing to see how happy everyone was, and thought at how amusing their faces would be when they discovered how truly difficult their life would be the first year.

"Alright, quiet down and find a seat." the teacher, Iruka Umino, as he introduced himself, called out. While the class quickly found seats, Minato himself sitting next to Chouza and Shikaku's sons, the class was a far cry from quiet. Though Shikamaru and Chouji both were quiet, both sleeping and eating chips respectively. It nearly made Minato laugh at how the sons of his friends were repeating the exact things their fathers had on their first day at the Academy.

"QUIET DOWN!" Iruka boomed, using a jutsu to make his voice and head appear louder and bigger than it naturally was, effectively quieting down the students.

"Good, now we will begin your first year into the Shinobi Academy, pay attention, and if you have any questions, raise your hands."

It was funny to count the amount of hands that were raised in those few hours of lecture.

Oh how interesting this year would be.

* * *

Once lunch began, Minato walked with both Chouji and Shikamaru who were more than happy, or rather didn't care, to let him sit with them.

"Ne, Naruto, are you going to get lunch from the cafeteria?" Chouji asked as they walked to the cafeteria, opening another bag of chips which seemed to sprout from thin air.

"I've actually brought some from home." Minato answered, "But, I'll wait in line with you guys if you're going to."

"Maa, too troublesome to wait in line. Kaa-san packed me a lunch." Shikamaru said pulling out a small bento box from his bag.

"My kaa-san made me one too." Chouji supplied, also bringing out a bento box, though it was a fair bit larger than both Minato's and Shikamaru's.

"Cool, let's just find a seat then?"

"Sure." Shika replied lazily, his bento back in his bag and hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants.

Once they were inside the massive cafeteria filled with students of varying ages, the trio found an empty table and sat themselves down comfortably, pulling out their lunches and began to eat happily. It was a while after that a boy with red upside-down triangles on his cheeks came to their table, his lips pulled back into a fanged grin, and his eyes alight with childish happiness.

"Hey!" he called out to the eating trio, "Can I sit with you guys?" Rather than waiting for an answer, the boy merely sat himself down next to Minato and brought his lunch tray in front of him, began to eat happily and then continue to introduce himself, food still in the process of being chewed in his mouth. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, by the way."

Mildly grossed out at the sight, Minato gave a very practiced wide grin and said, "Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!"

"Too troublesome to introduce myself..." Shika mumbled to himself, "Shikamaru Nara." he supplied lazily before returning to pick at his food.

"I'm Chōji Akimichi." the plump boy said between swallows of food.

"Nice to meet ya!" the Inuzuka said with a slightly feral grin, "You know, this place is a lot harder than I thought it would be." he added a bit after a few bites of his food.

"Yeah, they're giving a lot of homework already, and it's only the first day!" Chōji said heatedly.

"Tou-san said it would be hard, but I think it's because they try to get rid of all of the people who can't handle being shinobi, you know like a lot of the civilians and stuff.." Shikamaru drawled logically. Minato wasn't the least bit surprised at the boys intuition, he was a Nara, but more importantly, he was Shikaku's son, and that man was a bloody genius. Put his mother's genes into the mix, who was a prodigy in her own right, the boy was _bound_ to have incredible intelligence levels. Shame it seemed the boy inherited his fathers laziness. The other two, (mainly Kiba), on the other hand, looked at him with awe.

"That makes sense..." Kiba said scratching his head.

"You always were smart Shika." Chōji complimented with a wide grin on his face.

"Heh, a Nara's like born super smart right?" Minato said with a smile.

"...Maa, too troublesome..." Shika muttered, a slight shade of pink speckled across his cheeks.

"Ah!" screamed a very familiar voice, "There you are, Naruto! I have been looking everywhere for you!"

Each boy looked to where the voice had originated from and Minato nearly laughed himself out of his seat at the looks on his new friends faces as they spotted Lee. Lee who had caterpillar like eyebrows, and most importantly of all, wore a green spandex suit much like their teacher.

He wondered for a moment if he had that look when he was first introduced to Gai...

"Hey, Lee!" Minato said, waving happily at his friend and training partner, "Want to sit down and eat with us?"

"Of course! I would love to sit down with you to eat and meet your youthful friends!" the tall boy replied, his white, nearly bleached looking grin practically blinding his friends.

"Lee, these are my classmates and friends(?)" he asked slightly, receiving happy nods from the boys in response before continuing, pointing at each boy respectively as he introduced them. "Guys, this is Rock Lee, my really good friend and training partner. He's a year ahead of us."

"It is wonderful to meet you all! I shall help you first years in every way I can!" he finished, pulling off his own "good guy pose" that left Minato's friends looking at him with something akin to disbelief, before continuing their meal and enjoying the remainder of lunch together.

* * *

Once the day was over, Minato said goodbye to his friends, leaving before they had a chance to introduce him to their parents. Inoichi was hard enough, he didn't want to have to be introduced to Shikaku and Chouza together. Besides, Shikaku was way too intuitive for his own good. One look at him and somehow, someway, the man would discover his secret. How? He hadn't a clue, but never once was Minato able to keep anything from that man. He had been the first to discover, outside from the Sandaime Hokage (who was the only one who knew) that he had married Kushina. He had also been the first to discover that he was to be a father before he had even told anyone. It was as if he could look into your very soul and read everything little secret as though it were an open book before him. Though he _was_ proud to say he had beat the man once in shogi. Even though it was only _one_ time in the hundreds of games they undoubtedly played together, he had won nonetheless.

So, he did not want to say hello to either parent, and went off on his merry way to complete the small pile of homework he had collected throughout the day. It seemed the first year at the Academy had gotten tougher in times of peace. Though that was to be expected, he supposed.

While on his way, Minato looked over the short pile of paper and realized the homework was far more advanced than it should be. Some of the questions would have Chūnin hard pressed to answer!

_'They're doing this on purpose...' _he thought grimly to himself, _'They want Naruto to fail out of the Academy. I can't answer all these questions correctly... I can't answer even ten of them without tipping them off I know more than I should!' _He growled in frustration. It wasn't as though he could find the answers easily either, some of the knowledge was stored and sealed only for those of the respective ranks could see them.

_'I'll have to ask someone then. I don't want to fail damnit! Naruto won't be dead last. He'll be Rookie of the Year, always!'_

Taking one last glance at the papers in his hands, Minato turned himself around and headed straight to the Hokage tower.

_'I'll ask the old man about the questions.'_ he thought, _'Maybe he could even do something about the Teachers not bothering to even think I exist.' _

Beginning his way to have a talk with the Old Man, Minato had another thought that he hoped was true, _'__Kami I hope this isn't a bad idea...'_

* * *

AN: You know, I think this story is doing rather well, especially considering it is one of the 300,000+ Naruto stories on this site (not counting crossovers) :D Much thanks everyone! Grr...I'm not liking this! -_- Oh well, I'll come back to it at some point...

edit: Yup, I realize I haven't addressed Minato's anger toward the village for _murdering_ his son, don't worry, that will come in time, he's merely been preoccupied with training and trying to hide his true identity. So, simply put, no, Minato _didn't_ forgive the Village for what they've done, he merely has other priorities to deal with at the moment.


	6. Answers

A/N: Again, thank you to all you lovely readers and reviewers! I love to read everything you have to say!...er...write! I really hope I don't lose my muse for this story, but I'm feeling really... inspirational-less at the moment, especially with College work hanging over my head all the time as well as a full time job. Most of what I write is done during my breaks, and in the middle of the night (damn you insomnia!) Well, anyways, here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 6: Answers

Minato couldn't help the feeling of absolute dread come over him as he made his way to the Hokage Tower. Everything in his body down to a molecular level was screaming at him to go home and leave it be. To simply turn around, and fail the homework, to be considered dead last until he graduated. Had he not been such a stubborn person, he more than likely would have listened to his gut feeling rather than continuing his trek to the Tower.

_'It's fine, if he has questions, I'll answer as honestly as possible...' _Minato thought to himself, trying to calm down as he stepped into the building, heading up to the Hokage's office. Once up the floors, Minato quickly told the Hokage's secretary, who sneered and had a look of complete disgust as he spoke to her, that he wished to talk to him. Of course the horse of a woman told him the Hokage had no time for no good little brats like him and he should leave immediately before she called ANBU to kick him out.

Bristling slightly, he kept calm and told her that he would see him anyway, and simply walked past her and entered the spacious room where the Old Man was sitting behind his desk working quite diligently on the massive piles of paperwork that were surrounding him.

"Hi, jiji!" Minato greeted the aging man with a small smile, still inwardly seething at the horse-woman that was at his heels.

"You cannot come in here!" she screeched at him, her face turning an unappealing shade of purple. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama, let me take this little brat out of the Tower." she said before reaching for Minato's arm.

In a swift movement, Minato stepped out of her reach to the left and watched greatly amused as she tripped and fell to the floor.

"Why you little dem-!" she began only to be interrupted heatedly by the Hokage's stern voice.

"That will be enough, Kayako-san. You are dismissed, and Naruto, take a seat please."

Noting the look of absolute hatred the woman gave him, Minato shrugged and sat down in front of the Hokage's desk with a small bounce. He always did enjoy watching the Sandaime bring down arrogant people like her, it was so rare to see the old man act stern since it was hardly necessary during times of war when everyone knew they had to work together.

"Sorry about that, Naruto." Sarutobi apologized sincerely.

Shrugging again, Minato said, "I'm used to it, jiji." And oh how terribly true that was.

A sad gleam graced the Sandaime's eyes as Minato said that so nonchalantly. It was something that no one should simply get used to. _'And for that I am sorry...'_ he thought to himself. "So, Naruto, how was your first day at the Academy?" he asked with very well hidden anticipation at his answer.

"It was hard for a lot of us, jiji." Minato answered, not specifying whether or not it was hard for _him_, "Shika said it's hard for first years cause you try to "weed out" all of the kids who don't have what it takes to be shinobi."

Nodding, the Hokage puffed his pipe and said, "That's true. We set a harder curriculum for first years so that we don't get stuck with a dozen unsuitable shinobi in our ranks. It saves both time and lives."

"Yeah, and the homework is _really_ hard, jiji. I mean, Iruka-sensei didn't even _cover_ most of it!" Minato exclaimed, channeling Naruto's very essence as he said so.

His eyes narrowed, Sarutobi pulled out his pipe from his mouth and placed it on the desk, away from any of the piles of paperwork that continued to breed like rabbits. "May I see your homework, Naruto?" he asked calmly, his hand stretched out to grasp the papers Naruto would give him.

With a small nod, Minato grabbed the small stack of papers and handed them over to the Hokage. He _sincerely_ hoped that this would be all they spoke of. He was still racking his brain for a plausible explanation for his 'prodigious knowledge.' He knew he had messed up more than once during the weeks he had been back in the land of the living. He knew he hadn't forced himself to move as an untrained child, or that he didn't look as though he were _really_ listening to Gai talk about chakra and several other things. He had allowed himself to be caught, at least a henged shadow bushin, by one of the Jonin he hadn't met.

_'What can I say that won't send me to be tortured or mind raped?' _he wondered grimly before the Hokage's voice broke his train of thought.

"This isn't the homework you should be getting, Naruto." he said with scarcely contained anger, "Most of this is used on Chunin examinations, and some is of Jonin level knowledge. Most of this you won't even _hear_ about until your at least a Chunin."

Nodding slowly, Minato said, "I thought it was funny. I didn't remember Shika's or Choji's homework looking like mine, but I didn't think much of it until I was walking home."

"Hmm, don't worry about any of this, Naruto." Sarutobi said putting the papers in a small side drawer. "I'll be sure to address this _fully._"

Shivers ran up and down Minato's spine when he heard the Hokage's tone. He most certainly did not envy the Academy teachers. So far it looked like _none_ of the teachers even wanted to tolerate his presence. Though he had to admit Iruka _really_ hid his discontent well. The man, who he still could not quite place in his memory, obviously held no love for Naruto, leading him to believe that the boy had lost someone close during the Kyuubi attack like the majority of everyone else that hated Naruto. Even so, he _attempted_ to treat him fairly. Far better than any of the other teachers, that was for sure.

"Uhh, thanks, jiji." Minato said scratching the back of his head, a nervous tick he had developed in the early years of his life.

"No problem, Naruto." Sarutobi smiled a grandfatherly grin down at him, "I wanted to ask you, Naruto, how you have been? I hear your training is going well." _'Awww, damn. He's going to ease into the conversation I _really_ don't want to go into...'_ Minato groaned in the back of his mind, making sure his face was in a small smile.

"I'm fine, old man." he answered automatically, "Training is great! Gai-sensei is kind of weird...but he's a really good teacher. Kakashi-sensei doesn't really teach us, just kind of watches... even though he always reads that orange book."

"Good, that's really good to hear, Naruto." Sarutobi nodded with the same smile gracing his lips.

"Yeah! I can't wait till I learn awesome ninjutsu! I'll be the best ninja Konoha's ever seen! Believe it!" Minato exclaimed with his sons foxy face-splitting grin across his face which caused the Hokage to chuckle slightly at his antics. He had to play the part of a seven year old boy, an _abused_ seven year old boy...when he was mentally nearly two decades older. He deserved some sort of award if he got to graduation without anyone figuring him out.

"You'll learn soon enough, Naruto. Don't rush to grow up." the Sandaime stated, a slight tone of regret sprinkled over his voice.

"But I want to be a shinobi as soon as possible!"

"I know, Naruto. But you will be, with time."

Pouting a bit, Minato sulked into his seat, the Hokage emitting soft stifled chuckles at his position, at least before he became truly serious.

"Naruto, I need to know something." he said, causing Minato to look up at him with a confused stare. "I know that...I know that I haven't been able to protect you from a lot, Naruto, and for that, I am truly sorry, but I need to know if there was anyone teaching you, before Gai."

_'Oooh, they think I was being trained by someone else? That makes sense...train me and take care of me to be loyal to them rather than Konoha...making be a possible threat of unknown power, especially considering the Kyuubi.'_

"No, Jiji." he said, "It's always just been me."

Noting the small sigh that left the Hokage's lips, Minato listened intently as the aging man continued to speak. "Has there been anything else? Anything happening to you that is unusual?" he pressed.

Soft anger was beginning to bubble in Minato's core. He was positive that being called 'demon brat' and 'monster' were under the umbrella of 'unusual' but he doubted the Hokage would do anything about it. It wasn't as though he _could_ do anything about it. The Villagers would continue to be ignorant and cower in their fear, turning that fear to anger at the Kyuubi which just so happened to be sealed in the body of a small weak child, something they could take out their anger on quite easily. He would _never _forgive the village for what they had done to Naruto, but he could move on and show them how wrong they were, prove that his son was worth more than ten times the village, and then some, and hope they repent for everything they had done to his son.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, jiji." Minato answered with a slight cold look in his eye, "Same as always."

"...You've changed so much, Naruto..." Sarutobi muttered to himself, thinking he had said it too lowly for Naruto to hear, though the man in a boys body had indeed heard.

"I_ died_, Hokage-_sama_. What do you expect?" Minato hissed out before covering his mouth immediately after he had said the words. _'Shit! __I did not mean to say that out_ loud!' he mentally slammed his head into a wall for his carelessness.

The Hokage looked up at Naruto's eyes, full of anger, sadness, and unbridled hatred. Though the boy's words continued to echo in his mind. _'Died?'_ he thought to himself. _'DIED?'_

"Naruto..." he began lowly, "What do you mean?" The Hokage's voice was stern and commanding, and Minato _knew_ he should have just let the homework be and had went straight home. Now, he had no choice but to answer.

"I died, Hokage-sama." he said honestly. "Naruto Uzumaki died. Murdered."

"You... you're not the Kyuubi...you can't be...the seal...!" Sarutobi mumbled out, his entire body gone ridged and tensed in preparation for an attack of any kind.

"No! I'm not the Kyuubi! The Yondaime sealed him up completely in this body. He can't influence me, he can't speak to me unless I allow it, which I _will never allow!_" Minato answered, internally sweating bullets. One wrong word, and shit would hit the fan.

"But...Naruto?" Sarutobi asked uncertainly

"Yeah...it's me. Sort of." Minato said, trying to be the picture of calm.

"How did you know about the Kyuubi? Or the Yondaime?" Sarutobi asked, still tensed in his seat.

"I died Old Man...I died...and I saw my parents." he lied convincingly, looking straight in the mans dark brown eyes.

"You...you know..."

"Hai. I know that I'm the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, last of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans. I'm the Yondaime's legacy, and Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko." he said in a dull tone, as though he were reciting a report, when a sudden flash of sheer brilliance struck him, "Otou-san placed a fail-safe in the seal, he locked some of his own and kaa-sans chakra so if I was ever close to death, they would stop the Kyuubi from being released because I was so weak. They used most of their chakra to bring me back to life though...pump their chakra through my heart to get it to start again. He told me everything. Taught me everything he knew, and Kaa-san taught me a few things too. "

Sarutobi looked as though he were going to have a heart attack right on the spot from the information that was being given to him. He was suddenly _very_ glad he had activated the privacy seals when he began to question Naruto on how he was.

"So that's why you seemed as though you knew everything... you did..." he mumbled out, staring wide eyed as Naruto nodded.

"It felt like years, I think that's why I was asleep for three days instead of one like usual." he added, knowing that small little tid-bit made his story far more believable. After all, Naruto always bounced back from major injuries in less than twenty-four hours. It was odd for him to be out longer.

"You know everything then, Naruto..."

"Yeah...I know."

"Kami... I- I'm sorry...so sorry." the man, in that moment, looked as though he had instantly aged another ten years. The wrinkles on his face became more pronounced, his eyes filled with unmasked grief and pain. He felt a pang of emotions went through Minato's heart as he watched the man he respected with all his being, a man who Naruto thought to be a grandfatherly figure, beg for forgiveness. A part of Minato screamed to let him wallow in his guilt, that he deserved it for not doing anything. But the memories... the soft pats on the back...the kind words of encouragement...the love shining through the mans eyes... what the Shinigami had said stopped that thought completely. Sarutobi was a good man, one who truly cared for Naruto with all his heart. A good man, but an incredibly _flawed _man.

Taking a deep intake of breath, Minato walked up to the near broken man and hugged him. He could feel the man tense before wrapping his arms around the small boy.

"It's not your fault, jiji..." Minato mumbled in the elderly mans chest, "It's not your fault..."

They stayed in that position for a long while, merely holding onto each other for much needed comfort. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Sarutobi lose control of his emotions. He hadn't seen the man, in a long time, grasp onto someone as though they were a life line. He was _the_ Sandaime Hokage. He was _the _Professor. _The_ God of Shinobi. Nothing could touch or harm him on the battlefield. So many thought he was invincible.

So many forgot that Hiruzen Sarutobi was just like the rest of them; a man.

* * *

A/N: Interlude-ish-y?

Reviews are _loved_!

Edit: Yeah...I'm making this story a little slow paced at the moment. I want to build relationships and develop the characters more before I get into the canon era. So there won't be any sort of time-skip in the near future. Anyway, look forward to a few more complications coming up for Minato! Till the next chapter!

I think this was well put, and should be put here for everyone to see. Thank you Veasna

_Honestly, why are ppl so negative sometimes? If you want a fanfiction to follow the canon, then stick to the manga. The point of a __fanfiction is for ppl to express their ideas and creative intake on the original story. Personally for myself if it is to close to the manga I don't even bother to read it anymore because it is boring and predictable. If you can't offer constructive criticism then, stop reading. Nobody is forcing you to read it. You yourself chose to do that. If you think you can do better then write your own and stop trying to bring down other's ideas and hard work._


	7. A Test of Faith

A/N: Over 100 reviewers! :D Awesomeness people! Thank you everyone, like always! You brighten my days with your reviews! Except you flamers... ya'll are just mean. But I don't care because the mass majority of you _do_ like my story, so who am I to fret about a few who don't like it? Maa, well here is the next chapter, sorry if it's none to your liking. Next one is _filled_ with action and Minato being a badass, so just wait a teeeeensssyyyy bit longer for that. Please and thank you!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 7: A Test of Faith

Minato was quite glad that he had went to visit the Hokage in retrospect. While at first the risks of not knowing what would happen were many, and most could have turned out terribly for him, the actual end results were better than he could have hoped. He now had the Hokage backing him up one hundred percent, _and_ he would be tested the following day to see he true abilities. Meaning, he no longer had to hold back. Well, perhaps a little bit, but not nearly so much as he had been. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to become genin at that very moment, but it would be great for Naruto to be recognized as a prodigy on the same level as Itachi was at his age. He might not have a doujutsu, but he had the damn chakra of a demon, so they could be considered to be on equal terms in some ways.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do about Lee though. How would he react to his test? How would he feel about his omitting the truth to him from day one? He had promised they would work together and prove they were better than born geniuses. Would he hate him for this? A part of him screamed that it was impossible for Lee to hate anyone, he was just not that kind of person, yet that small insecure side of him whispered constantly in his ear that Lee would feel betrayed, and never forgive him.

_'No...he wouldn't...' _Minato thought miserably to himself. Over the month he had been in the body of his son, he noticed he had a tendency to actually _react_ to certain situations as a seven year old would. He deduced that it was something biological, that while he was mentally older, the part that of his mentality was still active, only suppressed. Unfortunately it made situations like these that much more emotional for him. Either way, he knew that he would have to talk to him about it before the day ended. He did not want his friend to find out from someone else.

He was also unsure of what he was going to say to his newest friends. He certainly hadn't acted as though he had been trained for over two decades. The only thing he could tell them was the cover-up story that he and the Sandaime had come up with. In which he had been trained by the Sandaime himself, as well as Jiraiya at times, since he was only four, one that had been kept as an S-rank Village secret until now as he was on his way to be a genin. Nothing would be said of the training methods, or any details given out about what the training entailed. No matter how much the council 'bitched and moaned' about it, they wouldn't be able to do anything. After all, the conditions revolving around Naruto's life never determined anything about his training as a Shinobi. Minato supposed that the council believed they would have killed Naruto before he could even begin training to become one.

_'It's nice to have the old Sandaime back.'_ Minato thought fondly to himself. He was always commanding during his lifetime. Constantly in control and the one who had the power. _'As it should be.' _Of course that had changed in the past years, undoubtedly due to the stress and grief of being Hokage once more since he had passed, but to see him with his back straightened and that same old authoritative aura was pleasing to see.

As he made his way to see Lee at the orphanage, with the sun setting in the sky overhead, Minato wondered what tomorrow would bring. He didn't doubt he had the ability to be a genin. Truthfully speaking, he was at chunin level for mostly everything save genjutsu (which would forever remain at a mediocre genin level) Though it could be debated whether or not he was at jonin level for ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. His son was a chakra powerhouse, and with the control he had honed in the past month, he could perform many high ranked jutus. His taijutsu was acceptable, and he moved with experienced grace and skill. All he lacked was physical strength which would take more than a mere month to regain.

Skillfully ignoring the glares and angered muttering of the people around him, Minato walked to the large Orphanage building and quickly spotted Lee doing push-ups in the back yard.

"Hey, Lee!" Minato greeted with a large smile, inwardly sweating about this confrontation.

"Naruto! It is wonderful to see you!" Lee said happily, "Is anything wrong? I shall always stand by you my friend, whatever you need!"

_'Kami, I hope you truly mean that, Lee...' _"No, nothings wrong, Lee." Minato said walking toward him, "I just need to talk to you about something."

"Of course! Come, let us go to those seats." the bushy eyebrowed boy pointed to a couple of lawn chairs. Nodding quietly and walking over to take a seat, Minato took a deep breath and looked at his smiling friend.

"I-I have something I need to tell you, Lee..." Minato started, his nerves finally showing through.

Lee looked at his young friend slightly confused. In all his time knowing the younger boy he had never shown any sort of insecurities. He was always confident in himself, and spoke with conviction, often, with great words of wisdom that were beyond his years. Lee, while young, wasn't blind to the hatred the village had bestowed upon Naruto. He had noticed the glares, and heard the hushed whispers about him. How they claimed he was a demon, and all sorts of awful things. Lee would never believe such unyouthful words about his friend. He was kind, and never did anyone any wrong. He was polite and respectful to the civilians as well as the shinobi of the Village. Would a demon be so polite or courteous? Would a demon allow such awful demeaning things to be said about him? No, Naruto couldn't be a demon, he hadn't hurt a fly, let alone a person.

"Sure, Naruto." Lee said, looking at his friend albeit more seriously than before. Something was clearly troubling his friend.

"You...you know how I...uhh...get techniques really fast during training?" the blonde began, looking at his friend with a worried gaze.

"Yes, you are most quick to understand the techniques Gai-sensei teaches us." he said, motioning for Naruto to continue.

"You see...it... when he taught us all of that, it wasn't my first time learning it." the smaller boy admitted.

"What do you mean, Naruto?"

"I mean... before Gai-sensei I had another teacher." Minato said convincingly, looking at his friends dark eyes directly, "You know how the village doesn't like me right?" getting a small nod, he continued, "I've been hurt a lot, Lee...and because of that Hokage-jiji thought I should learn to protect myself. When I was four, he began to teach me a few things. The basics really..." as he began to trail off, Lee spoke up.

"So you've been training since you were four?"

"Yeah...I just... I needed to tell you the truth cause tomorrow, Jiji is going to have me tested by a couple of people to see if I'm ready to become a genin... I didn't...I didn't want you to find out from someone else..."

"...Oh..." Lee muttered, unsure what to make of the situation.

"I- I'm sorry I lied, Lee... I couldn't tell anyone cause it was a S-rank village secret. Not even Kakashi or Gai-sensei knew."

"This is...strange, Naruto..." Lee admitted finally, unsure of how to word his emotions at that point. He felt a mixture of contradicting emotions; elated Naruto thought him a good enough friend to tell him before hand, angered and hurt for not being told at the beginning, frustrated he had no idea how to respond, and feeling utterly lost.

"I know... I'm really sorry though, Lee... I never wanted to lie to you. We were going to prove to everyone hard work beats born geniuses...can we still?" Minato asked fearfully. He did not want to lose his first friend, especially not such a wonderful one like Lee.

Looking into the genuinely fearful sky-blue eyes Naruto stared at him with, Lee knew he couldn't hate him. It was a secret right? He couldn't do anything about that, or else he would go to prison, or worse, be executed from what his Academy sensei had said. It hurt, of course, but he couldn't blame Naruto for anything he'd had been going through for years.

"Yeah, we will show them, Naruto." Lee said with a bleach-white grin, "You'll show them sooner though!" his demeanor grew brighter as he said the words, "I shall work ten times harder to catch up to you, Naruto!" When Lee laughed happily, Minato thought he could cry in relief.

He disliked being so emotional, but at the same time thought it to be a blessing. Years of war hardened him, and such lack of control over his emotions were rare and unwanted. Here, though, he was a kid again. A kid born and raised in an era of relative peace. He could act like one and actually live out a relatively peaceful childhood. Something he never had.

"Thanks, Lee..." Minato muttered softly, making Lee grin widely.

"Of course, Naruto!" he exclaimed, "I am your friend, and I shall always stand by you, no matter what!"

* * *

The morning after, Minato woke with unbridled excitement. Today, he decided, was the day he was going to become a genin. He had spent a fair amount of time at home contemplating the pros and cons of doing so. The pros severely outweighed the cons, so it wasn't that difficult of a decision in the , at 8a.m. he would be waiting at Training Ground 18 where he would be tested by a member of the ANBU, as well as his overseer, Kakashi. While Kakashi would test his skills in weaponry and ninjutsu, the ANBU was to test how he handled a true fight, as well as marking how well his taijutsu was.

When Sarutobi explained exactly what would be happening, Minato was more than excited. Not only would he fight against a member of the ANBU, but also his old student. Seeing how much Kakashi had improved in the seven years he had been in the Shinigami's stomach was something he greatly wanted to see.

Like usual, Minato completed his morning routine and was out the door and headed to the training ground with a fair amount of time to get there. He wouldn't deny there was a slight bounce to his step as he made his way to the grounds. He had already decided that he wouldn't do any extremely high-ranked jutsus, save for the Kage-bushin since that was simply a must. He had decided to showcase the Rasengan, though the Hiraishin and Kushina's Chakra Chains weren't going to make their debut at this point. For one, he couldn't perform the Hiraishin without completely giving up his identity since the test wasn't solely with those who knew his true lineage. That, and he was positive that he had never given Jiraiya the schematics behind the technique so he had to wait till _everyone_ knew his identity before performing his signature move, even if he told Sarutobi Naruto was taught everything by himself... Or at least until Sarutobi thought it was alright for him to do so. He could get away with knowing the Rasengan in front of the unknown Jonin because he had been supposedly trained by Jiraiya, who _knew_ the Rasengan. As for Kushina's Chakra Chains... he was pretty sure he would be able to bring them out eventually, as he was an Uzumaki. Only thing holding him back was that Kushina had never tried to teach him the theory behind the technique so he hadn't a clue how to summon his own.

Even with the many other things he would have to consciously remind himself not to do, Minato walked onto the training ground with a few minutes to spare, noticing that everyone was already there. Meaning the Hokage, Kakashi (which greatly surprised him), the ANBU who wore a weasel mask, and shockingly of all, the Toad Sannin, Jiraiya.

"So you're finally here, brat?" Jiraiya said, discretely eying Naruto speculatively. Had he not been a mere few hours away from Konoha the day before, he wouldn't have made it to see how the son of his student truly was. He had been summoned immediately by his old teacher a week ago to check on Naruto's seal, as the man was worried about his change in behavior, but he never expected to hear what the man had to say once he got there.

Not only had Naruto nearly died a mere month ago, he had also apparently discovered the truth about the Kyuubi and his parents. Most of all, he had met his parents due to a fail-safe Minato had added to the seal and taught him everything they could. He didn't doubt the possibility of a fail-safe in the seal, his student was always had a way with Fuuinjutsu, more so than many could ever dream to be. Given everything he had done with the Hiraishin, he simply couldn't doubt his students ability.

After being briefed on the cover story they were going to feed to the masses, Jiraiya could hardly wait to see the boy. Though he waited till the present morning, after all, he had been so preoccupied with getting to Konoha he hadn't the time to do any research.

"Morning Hokage-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sensei, Anbu-san." Minato said politely.

"Good morning, Naruto." Sarutobi said with a smile. "Now, let's get this underway, shall we? Why don't you stretch for a bit and then we'll get started."

Nodding at the aged man, Minato began to stretch out every muscle in his body, preparing himself fully for the oncoming fights.

As soon as he was done, he motioned toward the Hokage who nodded and said, "Alright, let us begin with testing your ninjutsu. This will be a spar where you will battle with solely ninjutsu and the standard kunai and shuriken to your disposal." getting nods from the both Kakashi and Naruto, he continued, "Third blood wins, or when a winner is clear to Jiraiya, Weasel, and I." Watching the two walk into a more open area, far enough away from the onlookers so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, they bowed to each other, and got into their respective battle stances.

"Ready?" the ANBU called out, receiving two nods, "Hajime!"

* * *

A/N: I can't write fight scenes...so I'm taking a lot more time on writing this part out. I _should_ have it up tomorrow so you won't be left hanging...like I left you...for long. I'm sorry! Anyone want anything in particular shown in the fights? :D

Reviews are _loved_!


	8. Minato vs Kakashi

A/N: So as I stated, here are the fight scenes! I hope they're fine, I really tried to make it as descriptive as possible, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! If someone, anyone, is willing to help me out with planning and writing future ones, please let me know and we can work something out! :D Oh I've also got a **poll **on my profile page where you can vote whether or not you'd like to see Minato paired up with anyone. Keep in mind he is mentally as old as many of their fathers! Also keep in mind that none of the pairings will happen in the near future. He _is _only seven right now after all.

p.s. I apologize for not getting this up a few days ago. I am currently on my bed resting from a bout of either the flu or the cold. I can't tell which (nor do I really care) and am trying to get better as quickly as possible. That and I foolishly deleted the parts of this chapter that I already had written... you've no idea how frustrating it is to lose all your progress! Well, maybe you do... but yeah that happened. Again, sorry and I hope to keep updating as I have since I started writing this story.

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 8: Minato v.s Kakashi

"Hajime!" the ANBU's words barely echoed into Minato's mind before he and Kakashi moved toward each other, both meeting with two kunai in their hands, blocking their opposing weapons with practiced ease, though given his seven year old body's strength, Kakashi could easily overtake him. Kakashi hadn't pushed his hitei etai away, so his sharingan eye still remained hidden behind the dark folds of the cloth wrap. Pushing back from Kakashi in a swift movement, Minato quickly threw a handful of shuriken, forming the proper hand seals quickly afterwards causing the small shuriken to multiply into over a hundred fast flying projectiles. He knew that Kakashi would move out of the way, or block it with some sort of technique, so he quickly sped forward, forming the hand-seals for a Kage Bushin in the process and shushin'ed past the attack to surround him effectively.

Kakashi, all the while, was shocked at his (unofficial) student's speed. He had known through watching the son of his Sensei that he was holding back considerably, but this was something he hadn't fully expected. Sure, the Hokage filled him in that Naruto had been training with _the_ Jiraiya the Sennin since he was four, as well as learning a bit from the Sandaime himself. While he had a bit of doubt on the truth of the story at the time he was given it, he couldn't doubt the kid's skills.

Pushing himself to the far left to avoid the bombardment of shuriken, Kakashi realized Naruto had chosen to speed past the incoming projectiles and surround him in a rather effective manner. Bringing his hands to the proper seals, Kakashi sunk into the earth bellow, moving under the grass and dirt toward the body he thought was the real Naruto, and sunk him into the earth. The moment he had sunk one of the Naruto's into the ground neck deep, he heard the unmistakeable sound of whirling chakra and immediately rushed his hands through the proper seals for the kawarimi, replacing him with a harmless log just as Naruto pushed a fully formed Rasengan through the log, obliterating it into splinters of wood that scattered around the surrounding grass.

Minato had realized the moment Kakashi hadn't taken him over with physical strength in the beginning that he really wasn't going full out. It was to be expected, he supposed, for a full grown Jonin to go easy on a _seven_ year old boy, but he wanted, _desperately_, to see how much his student had improved since his early demise. And he'd be damned if he didn't get the fight he'd been excited about since the previous day.

* * *

"The brat's gotten better." Jiraiya mumbled, knowing that the Hokage would understand his words as shock of seeing a _child_ take on a Jōnin, and ANBU Captain, so effectively in the very beginning of the fight.

"Training with Gai has done him well." Sarutobi said as he watched the fast movements of the two. He himself was shocked at Naruto's abilities. It hadn't even reached a minute into the spar, and he had already shown a strategy that was more than worth genin status. Now, he wanted to see how truly powerful the son of the Yondaime was.

"You have trained him well, Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama." the ANBU said in a low monotone voice. He knew that the boy was a jinchuriki, ANBU status gave him that little tid-bit of information through heavily suggestive hints and not-so-hushed whispers. While he bore no ill will for the boy, he hadn't been overly sympathetic to his plight. Life was simply cruel and unforgiving in many aspects, and more importantly, never biased; it was something he had long come to terms with. Other than that, he had his own business to deal with at home with his father and the pressures of becoming and being an ANBU to truly do anything for the boy, though he did protect the small child to the best of his ability while he was in his charge.

"Well what do you expect from _the_ Great Jiraiya?" the long white-haired man asked with a wide grin, effectively hiding his intense stare at the blonde boy.

"Indeed, though he seems to just be getting started." Weasel replied, keeping an air of indifference around him as he watched the pair.

* * *

Far off to the other side of the field, Kakashi stared at the damage Naruto had managed to cause to the offenceless log.

_'He was seriously holding back in the spars with Lee and Gai...' _the grey haired Jōnin thought as Naruto set himself in front of him again in a readied pose.

"Ready to go for real, Sensei?" Naruto asked him with a grin on his whiskered face. With a slight smirk of his own, Kakashi lifted the cloth over his eye and placed his headband in its proper place, tightening the wrap so that it wouldn't fall back while he moved at the high speeds he was accustomed to.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his eye still closed.

"Show me what you got, Sensei!" Naruto screamed back, in a rather enthusiastic tone that sounded extremely childlike.

With a small chuckle, Kakashi opened his left eye, a fully formed sharingan swirling in it's depths making everything around him look so much _clearer_. "I'll try not to hold back as much, Naruto. I still will though. I don't want you to be _too_ exhausted for your spar with Weasel."

Nodding, Minato returned to a more serious expression and readied himself for anything his past student would throw at him.

Kakashi quickly ran through a set of seals, bringing his hands up to his mouth before three large fireballs erupted from it, directed straight at Minato's small form. Immediately, Minato rushed forward, twisting his body in odd directions to scarcely miss the three merciless balls of flames all the while running through the seals for the Kage Bushin. Once he was out of the flames way, more than twenty clones had poofed to existence, all facing his student with kunai gripped in both of their hands tightly.

"Charge!" the original Minato ordered his clones, and soon Kakashi found himself battling against all of the clones. While they required only a single hit for them to disperse, they were quick to dodge or block his attacks and slices. It wasn't _really_ difficult to handle, but it _was_ annoying and tedious. While he continued to move in an almost elegant dance against the clones, Kakashi soon found himself facing the sweaty _original_ body of Naruto Uzumaki.

Minato, while tiring from the physical toll the spar was having on his small body, looked defiantly at his past student. It was clear that it would be quite a few more years until he received the proper spar he'd wanted. He was sure that if Kakashi didn't hold back, then he would have been floored to the ground within the first few minutes of the spar. Despite all his memories of experience, his body was only that of a seven year old _abused_ boy. Even with the month of conditioning, there was hardly anything he could do to equate himself with the body of a fully matured and trained Jōnin.

Shaking his head, Minato prepared himself for Kakashi to come at him once more, and he wasn't disappointed. As soon as he had shaken his head, Kakashi had completed a number of seals before pounding his hand to the ground. For a moment, Minato was expecting his dog summons to appear, but a small rumble of the earth proved him wrong. Jumping as soon as he felt chakra ripple through the ground beneath him, the grassy terrain instantly became a muddy trap. He silently thanked himself that in the past month he had taken chakra control so seriously, otherwise as soon as gravity took hold of him completely, he would have sunk through the mud. Thankfully, he had and instead of sinking, he pushed a precise amount of chakra to the soles of his feet and stood confidently atop the mud mess.

Noticing a small smirk forming on his students face thanks to a slight crinkle in his eyes, Minato watched as he once again raced through handseals, all the while dodging every single one of his shuriken he had flung at him, and breathed out a large water-made dragon. His eyes widening slightly at the sight, Minato quickly dodged to the best of his ability, though he was caught in the shoulder and thrown back to the grassy area with such force, he had to take a moment to regain his breath with one thought running through his mind.

_'I have such low pain tolerance!'_

Quickly standing, Minato successfully blocked -with his kunai- a small number of shuriken thrown his way, though not unscathed. He mildly heard the ANBU call out first blood in favor of Kakashi, but he hardly noticed the slight stinging on his arm where the shuriken had imbedded itself. While he noticed the slight flinch Kakashi allowed at the sight, Minato shrugged it off and ended up throwing his kunai at the grey-haired Jōnin. Not a moment later, he rushed through yet another pair of hand seals before sending a huge gust of wind toward them, adding to both the speed they were traveling at and the damage they would cause should they hit their target.

Kakashi, like Minato had predicted, quickly dodged the offending weapons, though not with the same ease he had been mocking him with the entire spar. It was with great pleasure that the ANBU then called out first blood in _his_ favor. Getting Kakashi to be harmed _at all _during this spar could be considered an accomplishment in itself deserving of Genin status, especially when said Jōnin was none other than _the_ Copy-Cat Nin.

Before either could continue, the Hokage's voice broke their concentration.

"Enough! Kakashi is the clear winner, though you did more than exceptional during the spar, Naruto." the aging Sandaime said kindly.

"You did pretty good, brat." Jiraiya said with a smirk. Leave it to Minato's kid to surpass him before he even finished his first year at the Academy.

Minato tried to keep an expressionless face while he heard Jiraiya compliment him, though he could tell he didn't manage as well as he had hoped. The man he once thought of as a father, was honored with being Naruto's _god_father, yet he had allowed him to be treated worse than a common vermin! He had _abandoned_ his responsibilities as a godfather, leaving a child _alone_ in a village that _killed_ him! He forgave the Hokage, Hiruzen was old, and his slight vacation as a retired shinobi had softened him to the point where none of the civilian council, nor his advisers, truly listened to him. Jiraiya had no such excuse, nor _any _viable excuse to _run away_ from his responsibilities to Naruto. Tsunade was the same, but there was little to be done about her at the moment.

One thing was for certain, though. Jiraiya was one long hell of a way from ever being even slightly forgiven.

"That spar alone leads me to believe you are more than ready to take on the responsibilities as a Genin of Konohagakure." Weasel said, his mask facing the small blonde that had finally walked up the the trio, sweat and dirt clinging onto his face like a lifeline.

"Thank you, ANBU-san." Minato said politely.

"I believe the same." Sarutobi put in, "But I would still like to see how you fare with Weasel, is that fine?"

"Of course." Minato said, adrenaline still rushing through his veins. "If he still wants to...of course..." he added after a moment of hesitation.

"I would like to determine your power for myself, so no, I would not mind." Weasel replied in the same monotone voice he had been speaking in, though this time there was a slight hint, however small, that was almost excited.

"Good! You look a bit worse for wear though, Naruto." Sarutobi said with a smile, "Why don't we get some good food then come back and continue." while it was posed as a question, the other four knew it was more a commanding suggestion.

Bringing his orange book out from his back pocket, Kakashi said while reading in depth, "Right behind you, Hokage-sama."

Jiraiya noticed the book the Jōnin was reading and couldn't help the wide grin from afflicting his face, threatening to split it. Though _he_ didn't notice the tightly controlled scowl Minato was holding back, the ANBU Weasel most certainly did. He didn't openly say anything, of course, but he did file that little tid bit of information for later. One never did quite know _what_ information picked up randomly would be important in the future after all.

Breathing in a small breath, Minato brought out the most Naruto-esqe grin he could manage and asked, "Can we go to Ichiraku's Ramen, Old Man?!"

Chuckling at his antics, Hiruzen replied, "Sure, Naruto."

* * *

Their little break lasted a little over an hour and a half, enough time to eat and digest the food they all had eaten before they returned to the training ground, fully ready and prepared for the last spar.

"Alright, are you ready?" Sarutobi asked once more, and once again received two nods from the pair that stood out in the middle of the training ground facing each other in readied poses while the rest stood and watched intently.

"Very well." he continued before he continued, "Remember, this is a full on fight, everything goes but _no_ fatal attacks. Winner by knockout or forfeit."

Seeing the two nod again, Sarutobi looked to Kakashi who silently received the unspoken message and like the ANBU before, called out in a rather bored tone, "Hajime!"

* * *

A/N: I'm sure you've all noticed that Lee is going to be a big aspect in Minato's life. I find him to be an underappreciated character in the series. Sure he's weird at times, but he's a really good guy! So I'm giving his due course in my story. :D


	9. Minato vs Weasel

A/N: Turns out I wasn't fighting a cold/flu guys, guess what I found out I have? A kidney infection! Yay~ Spending hours waiting to see a doctor in _emergency care _is JUST what I wanted to do in my spare time. Spending money you don't have on much needed antibiotics? Who _wouldn't_ want to do that? Being "asked" to drink a tang looking liquid that tastes worse than straight up vodka to get my potassium levels up? Sure! Bring the drink out by the bottle!...

If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit bitter at the whole situation and myself for allowing such an infection to occur. Anyway, I had bed ridden per orders of my mother because the infection was quite...bad. Yeah, bad. Let's leave it at that. Anyway, sorry if the last chapter was crud, I felt awful doing it, though I'm doing much better now though, thank goodness, and I just _had_ to update FSoYJ before I updated this one, so sorry for the delay!

p.s.- Yes, Weasel is Itachi Uchiha. Just putting that up for clarification if need be. Also, can't remember if I ever said Minato knew that the Weasel ANBU was really Itachi...If I said he did in fact know his true identity, forget that and pretend he doesn't. I'll go back and double check regardless and fix it to match this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 9: Minato v.s. Weasel

After Kakashi had screamed to begin, both Minato and the ANBU stared at each other for a moment, as though they were sizing each other up with their eyes before they truly began.

Though the ANBU was dressed in the entire ANBU garb, Minato could tell from his body that he was young. _How_ young, he hadn't a clue, but he put the ANBU between a very tall, very developed thirteen year-old, to a short underdeveloped sixteen year-old. Regardless, for someone so young to be ANBU was beyond impressive. He thought of all the possible people the ANBU could be, and only one seemed likely; Itachi. He had graduated at his current age and was promoted to Chunin not long after. With the mastery of the Sharingan that came with experience filled missions, he didn't doubt that Itachi would have been recruited to ANBU rank.

Brushing all the thoughts aside, in a quick movement of his hands, Minato brought his kunais to his grip and watched as Weasel went through a series of high speed seals before pressing his fingers together at the edge of his mouth and spewed out five large fireballs in every which direction. Minato knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it by merely tuck and rolling to the side, so he chose to switch himself out with a harmless piece of log and appear a few meters behind the ANBU. Weasel had already anticipated his reaction, and proceeded to throw a small barrage of kunai his direction, racing toward him in impeccable speed as Minato diverted all the kunai that would have impaled him with his own.

When Weasel had made it to him, the two began a strictly taijutsu brawl, Minato having to redirect most of the ANBU's punches and kicks rather than defending against them because of his small size. One direct punch from Weasel, and Minato was sure he was going to break something; he already felt his bones shake whenever he pushed aside a kick from the ANBU. When things began to get a little _too_ demanding for his small body, Minato quickly summoned forty shadow clones and had them all attack Weasel, their attacks varying from simply taijutsu, to trying to impale him with shuriken or kunai, to slicing him with wind based jutsu's he remembered.

The ANBU was a verifiable genius on the battle field. Fighting against forty dense shadow clones as though it were nothing was something to behold, even if they were clones of a physical seven year-old body. Minato couldn't help but be slightly awed at how powerful the teenager was. Kakashi had a lot of promise when he was growing up, but after Obito's death, he hadn't taken things as seriously as he had before; which was a coping mechanism so he didn't blame the kid for that. But this kid, was simply put, a powerhouse. He had used his body to it's fullest potential, bending and brushing aside the clones with practiced ease until it was only he and the original Minato left.

* * *

"Damn, the kid's gotten really good." Jiraiya muttered, bewildered at the sight of his godson. He knew the boy was strong, that was a given when considering who his parents were, but for him to be matching Itachi Uchiha, a kid who's said to be a prodigy that came only once every few generations, was truly a sight to be held. "I leave him to his own stuff for a year, and this is what happens?" he added for effect. Kakashi, after all, was not in the "loop."

"He held back a lot when Gai and I were training him it seems..." Kakashi said lowly, surprised at the sight as well.

"Indeed. But I feel he will only grow stronger with time; the boy will never give up, and will continue to prove everyone wrong." Hiruzen said with a grandfatherly voice, filled with both guilt and pride at watching Naruto. He shouldn't have been given this hand at life. The boy should have been able to live and grow up like any other child, even like one of an orphan. He would never forgive himself for allowing the atrocities committed against Naruto, but he vowed to stop them from occurring again, and if he failed at that for some reason, without the _proper_ punishment.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Minato tried to think of ways to get a good hit in. No matter which way he tried, Weasel had managed to break his attack before he was able to complete it. The ANBU wasn't completely unharmed, however. Mostly thanks to his clones, the ANBU would be sporting numerous bruises and a few shallow cuts along his arms and legs.

Minato, on the other hand, was looking a little more than worse for wear. He was sweating profusely, and his face was beginning to darken with tell tale signs of bruising. His entire body would be painted with blacks and blues come later in the day, though he was sure they would be gone the day afterward. Naruto healed at an unnatural rate thanks to the Kyuubi, but not nearly as fast for him as he remembered. Only theory he had behind this was that somehow, the fox knew _who_ was controlling Naruto's body, and refused to heal him as much as he had healed his son in the past.

In some ways, he thought it understandable. He didn't want the damned foxes help anymore than the demon wanted him in control.

Shaking his head a little, Minato refocused on the fight he was in; there would be no good coming from being distracted over something that wasn't a large concern at the moment. Taking in a shaky breath, Minato raced toward Weasel, both meeting head on and engaging in a fist fight once more.

This time, however, the fight was short lived. His small stature taking it's toll, Minato felt exhaustion take over his body and became more sluggish in his movements, giving Weasel the openings he needed to kick him to the ground. His back thrown onto the dirt, Minato saw his vision begin to grey, and his senses dull before everything went black.

* * *

Minato was brought back to consciousness by Jiraiya pouring cold water over him and gently slapping his face. The last kick hit him full on and the force had knocked him out cold for what looked to be only a few minutes. With a slight groan, Minato picked himself off the ground, propping himself up on his elbows and looked at the four who stood around him.

"Soo," he began in a groggy voice, "I still made Genin, right?"

For a few moments, there was silence before it was shattered by soft chuckling coming from both Kakashi and Sarutobi and heavy laughing from Jiraiya.

"You definitely still made Genin, gaki." Jiraiya said with a wide grin that Minato was ashamed to have missed so dearly.

"You have most certainly earned the rank of Genin, Naruto, especially after this spar." Sarutobi pipped in with his soft smile before offering his hand to him. Grabbing hold of the wrinkling hand of his old friend, Minato rose back onto his two feet, only slightly wobbling as he tried to gain proper balance. "Here is your hitai-ate, wear it proudly." the old man continued, handing over a dark blue sashed Konoha headband to him. Minato grabbed hold of the headband, his hand grazing gently over the metal piece that had the symbol of Konoha engraved into it. He remembered when he had first received his headband after graduating from the Academy. It was beyond one of the happiest moments in his life, just below becoming a father and marrying his beautiful Kushina.

"Thanks Old Man." Minato said with a genuine smile. He mentally was jumping for joy, now he could finally go out and do good for the Village, changing the opinions of the civilians one mission at a time.

It was that thought which caused Minato to groan outwardly. He would be subjected to the bane of _all_ genins.

D-ranks.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked with furrowed brows.

With a small sigh, Minato said, "Nothing much, Old Man...just...do I _have_ to do those D-ranks Genin complain about? They aren't even _real_ missions! They're _chores_!"

Hiruzen laughed outwardly, Jiraiya chuckling while the ANBU remained silent, though the amused air he was giving out was more than enough to see he sympathized with his plight.

"Yes, Naruto." the elderly man said, "All Genin are required to do D-ranks until they reach the point where C-ranks are permitted. As for your placement, we don't have any available teams to place you in, so for now, you will be accompanying a various teams and help out with D-ranks until I find a proper place to put you in. Come by my office tomorrow so we can get you settled in our system, okay?"

Minato wasn't so thrilled about that. He wasn't really expecting to be placed in a team since they had just started the Academy and existing teams wouldn't have been put out for life-threatening C-ranks as of yet.

"Hai, Old Man." Minato said, "I get will."

"Good." Sarutobi smiled happily down at the blonde. "Why don't you go rest for the rest of the day, maybe go tell Lee what happened. The Academy should be getting out soon."

"Yeah!" Minato agreed genuinely excited at the prospect. "I'll go find him now!" Without another look at Jiraiya or the ANBU, Minato rushed off to the Academy, looking forward to telling his friend that he had made Genin and was to be sent out on missions soon enough. He could probably get Lee prepared for the bane which was D-ranks, maybe they could even think of a way to make them less tedious and more productive. Because, honestly, knowing how to paint a house will _not_ save your life in an actual battle.

Now, all he had to worry about was how to break the news to the _other_ friends he had made...and he couldn't help but be concerned over how they would react to his making Genin...nor how their _fathers_ would react.

_"Damn...Shikaku __definitely__ won't let this go without his "friendly" shogi match."_

* * *

"Weasel, how would you feel about a new assignment?" Sarutobi asked the young ANBU before him.

"I will do whatever you ask of me, Hokage-sama." the ANBU replied in a monotone voice.

"Naruto is obviously at a much higher level than most Genin, and placing him on a Team with kids at a lower level than him will inhibit his progress rather than allow him to grow. You are still young, Weasel...take off your mask."

The ANBU, without the slightest hesitation, took off his mask and revealed the face of a thirteen year-old Itachi Uchiha, his expression indifferent in the face of his Hokage.

"You want the kid to partner up with the brat, don't you?" Jiraiya said with his arms crossed over his chest, looking thoughtful.

"Yes, I do." Sarutobi admitted easily. Placing Naruto with Itachi wouldn't _just_ help Naruto grow as a shinobi, but help Itachi as well. As old as he might be, he wasn't blind to how recluse Itachi was becoming. He had become far more serious with missions, taking on higher risk assignments without a second glance, and it was clear to _anyone_ how he tried to avoid the Uchiha District with every fiber of his being. There were even rumors that Fugaku had to call out one of his police force to bring his son home to him.

Despite being an ANBU of Konoha, Itachi was still a thirteen year-old kid who _shouldn't_ have seen even half of what he's been forced into. The kid was a prodigy, and while it was true the Village shouldn't hinder such promise in a Shinobi, condemning a child who was a natural born pacifist to the atrocities of being an ANBU was, simply put, cruel.

Naruto was a seven year-old bundle of sunshine, even if it had dimmed considerably after the near-death experience only a month and some days ago, and could bring a smile onto almost everyone's face. Having the both of them, who were forced to live with different abuse, would help them heal together. Naruto helping Itachi remember he was still a child, and Itachi help Naruto grow into a stronger shinobi in order to accomplish his dreams.

"So, Itachi, will you take on this assignment?" Hiruzen asked the teenager.

Itachi blinked once before nodding and bowing slightly at his Hokage. "I will do as you ask, Hokage-sama."

"Good!" Sarutobi said with a wide grandfatherly smile before patting the ex-ANBU on the shoulder lightly. "I look forward to see how you two progress at each others side, Itachi."

Itachi couldn't help but feel slightly excited about working with Naruto. He had to admit that the spar was one of the best he had the privilege to have in months.

_"Maybe this won't be so bad."_

* * *

A/N: Reviews are loved!


	10. Consequences

A/N: Man you all are awesome ^-^ Much thanks everyone! Just to let you all know, I am making a speedy recovery! I'm feeling a lot better, but I feel I am slowly losing inspiration for this story...I _definitely_ won't abandon this story, I'd feel awful if I did so... _soo_ this means that updates will likely be once a week, maybe twice if I feel inspired like I am right now. So yeah...that's about it for now...enjoy the new chapter!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 10: The Consequences

Minato, still feeling the rush of adrenaline running through his veins, made his way to the Academy in record time. He was both excited and mortified about the idea of telling Lee and his other fast-friends of what had happened. Lee would undoubtedly be ecstatic for him donning his hitei-ate but he couldn't say the same for Shikamaru, Chouji, or Kiba. Shikamaru would be compelled by his Nara-mind to find out everything he can to explain why he had even bothered to show up the first day if he was simply going straight into the Genin test. Kiba, being a male Inuzuka, would probably react with anger, frustration, or the like when he explains. Chouji... he really didn't know how he'd react. Out of the three, Chouji, he felt, would react neutrally.

So really, all he had to worry was not anger Kiba _too_ much else wise he would make a rival, and sate as much of Shikamaru's curiosity before he brought what he found out to his father. He knew that Shikaku would probably ask his son to bring him to the Nara Compound one day, if only to "get to know" him. Meaning a not so subtle interrogation.

There was also the risk of making enemies/rivals once _other_ kids found out his knew standing. Say like that Hyuuga he had seen talking down to Lee when they first met. Or basically to anyone who had a superiority complex.

Life was _not_ going to be easy these next few years...

When the Academy came into view, he heard the bell ring throughout the halls that insinuated the fact that classes were over for the day. He waited with trepidation by the gates, hoping to catch his friends before they all left for their homes.

Lee, being the quickster he was, was the first person to come out of the Academy and caught sight of Minato almost immediately.

"Naruto!" the green clad boy exclaimed, "My youthful friend, how was your test?! Are you alright? Do you need medical attention?"

Minato smiled warmly at his friend, happy that he had made such a wonderful friend. "I'm fine, Lee." He said happily. "I passed! See look!" He tapped the metal on his headband and grinned happily. It really was nice to have the headband on his forehead again, he couldn't deny he felt a little naked without it.

"Wow! Amazing, Naruto!" Lee exclaimed ecstatic for his friend. "I will train twenty times harder to catch up to you, Naruto!" he finished with visible fires in his eyes that Minato simply _could not_ explain.

"Hey, Naruto!" another voice broke their conversation. Turning to see behind his slightly taller friend, Minato saw Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru walking toward them, though Kiba was slightly jogging to meet up with the duo first.

"Why weren't you here at class today?" he asked, noticing _something_ was different about the blonde, but simply couldn't place _what._

While Chouji was devouring the contents of a potato chip bag, Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the headband he wore on his forehead. "Naruto, is that your hitei-ate?" he asked, his interest peaked.

Minato took in a small breath, knowing that this was the confrontation he was dreading. "Yeah." he said in a less happy-go-lucky attitude that most were used to. "I've actually been training for years and Sensei thought I should take the test, even though Hokage-jiji wanted me to stay in the Academy for a few years."

"Wait...so your _already _a Genin!" Kiba exclaimed, calling forth a small crowd to wonder _who_ made Genin just after the Academy started rather than when it ended months ago. Minato internally groaned. He did _not_ want _everyone_ to know! That would make word spread like _wildfire_ with all the old-gossips that littered the streets! Not to mention Naruto was not looked upon with a good light...civilians would probably demand that he be stripped of his rank and say it was all "the demons work" or something of equal nonsense.

"Yeah, I made Genin today." Minato nodded, "I had the test with Kakashi-sensei and the ANBU Weasel." When he had said 'Weasel' Minato consciously noticed that a small black haired, pale faced boy, eyes widened. He remembered the face of one Sasuke Uchiha, younger brother to Itachi. The subtle expression change basically confirmed his theory that the ANBU _was_ in fact none other than Itachi Uchiha since Sasuke didn't react to Kakashi's name, which was _much_ more notable than an ANBU, already claiming the title of the Copy-cat Nin. "But I'm not on a team or anything, Hokage-jiji said I'm going to be paired up with a lot of different teams until a spot opens up or something."

"Woah... then how come you came yesterday? And why didn't you let us know? I needed tons of help on my homework!" Kiba exclaimed, pulling his face slightly down with the palms of his hands as he remembered the horror that was homework.

"Sorry, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji..." Minato said honestly. "I didn't think I would be tested, and I wasn't really sure how to tell you guys."

Shikamaru looked thoughtful before he spoke up. "Maa, so troublesome. You barely knew us a day, it's not like we expect you to tell us _everything_ about you."

"Yeah," Chouji said through bites of his chips. "It's cool," munch, "that you made," munch, "Genin, though."

Minato smiled happily at the two's proclamation. He couldn't help but feel happy for his friends, they had such wonderful sons, after all.

"Eh... yeah I guess we can't expect you to tell us everything." Kiba lamented. "But you _have_ to help me with my homework! I can't fail! Mom will _skin_ me if I do!" he exclaimed, a visible shudder running down his body as he thought of the pain his mother would bring upon him if he was at the bottom of his class.

Minato laughed wholeheartedly, remembering how vindictive Tsume could be when it came to certain things. His laughter was joined in my his other friends, and eventually the group of people that had not so subtly gathered around, had slightly departed, losing interest with their conversation. Sasuke, a pink haired girl, and another blonde he recognized as Ino, had stayed a little longer, but went on their way shortly after the rest.

"I just wanted to let you guys know, and I'll definitely help you guys if you need it. We'll become the greatest shinobi Konoha has ever seen!" Minato exclaimed confidently.

The four in front of him grinned at his confidence, and couldn't help but believe they would, one day, become great shinobi in their own right. Shikamaru was still looking a bit curious to know more about the circumstances of his training and just _who_ was his Sensei since he had not mentioned it earlier

"I have to get home." Shikamaru said to his friends. "Tou-san isprobably wondering what's taking me so long. He wanted me to train in the clan techniques today and I want to miss kaa-san before she forces food down my throat. Troublesome women..." he said, muttering the last part.

"I should get home too." Kiba said. "Kaa-san wants me to help with the pups today. I won't get my partner for a few more years, but I can learn how to really take care of him when I do!" With that said, Kiba took to running home. "I'll see you guys tomorrow! Naruto! Come by my house sometime! I'll make sure to let you in!"

"Bye!" the four remaining people said to the Inuzuka.

"I have to get home too." Chouji said crushing the now empty potato chip bag with his hands. " I have to help kaa-chan with stuff and get my homework done before dinner. Bye, Naruto, Shika, Lee."

"Goodbye my youthful friend!" Lee exclaimed happily.

"Later you guys." Shikamaru mumbled before leaving too.

"So, Lee," Minato began. "want to go train?"

Getting another visible fire in the green clad boy's eyes, he said, "Yosh! Let us go!" before running toward their usual training ground with a trail of dust in his wake. Minato laughed before chasing after his friend. At least he didn't lose any friends today.

* * *

Sasuke walked home, avoiding a certain pink-haired girl and blonde blue-eyed girl as best as he could. Only two days and there was already a steadily growing fan-club in his name. His brother, Itachi, had told him of the possibility of having a fan-club during his Academy years. Being an Uchiha was one thing, but as a son of the Clan head, he shouldn't be surprised for people trying to idolize him in hopes of one day becoming "Mrs. Uchiha."

At the time, he snorted at his brother. He was _seven_. He didn't think anything of girls other than they were annoying. A fan-club? That was just plain stupid.

But once again, his brother had been proven right.

He would be frustrated had he not been used to it. After so many years of being proven wrong by his brother, he should have already come to realize that everything he said should be considered truth.

Regardless of the pitiful fan-club, Sasuke was determined to confront his brother today. No matter what, he wouldn't take "not now" or "later" for an answer, and he _definitely_ wouldn't let him poke his forehead. That _always_ marked the end of a conversation.

What he needed to know from his brother was why he hadn't told him he was testing a kid his age for the Genin test. Nearly everyone knew that Itachi was the Weasel ANBU. When Itachi had come home with the news, his father had practically screamed it to the heavens, no doubt proud of his sons accomplishment.

Sasuke could never get that kind of acknowledgment from his father. No matter how hard he tried, or how hard he trained, he was just not at Itachi's level. He knew, if he didn't activate the Sharingan soon, he would forever remain in his brothers shadow and simply be the "younger disappointing son" of Fugaku Uchiha. No doubt useless in his fathers eyes.

Now that there was another boy...the _same_ age as him that isn't even a part of a clan, made Genin... his father would be even more disappointed with him.

He needed Itachi to train him personally if he was ever going to make his dad proud of him. He needed to do something to show his father that he was worth something!

With a determined intake of breath, Sasuke made his way into his home. "I'm home." he said softly, knowing that only his mother would answer him, and that was only if she wasn't busy with something.

"Welcome home, little brother." Itachi's voice came in. He half expected his brother to still be in his ANBU uniform, donning his mask and all. Instead, Itachi stood in front of him wearing normal shinobi attire. Without the uniform, he looked so much more approachable, and it brought another spark of determination in Sasuke.

"Nii-san." he said with a small nod. "Can you please teach me today? I need to get better if I'm going to graduate early." he finished.

The only change in expression was Itachi slighlty widening his eyes. "Why do you want to graduate early?" he asked curious.

"Because, you know a clanless boy made Genin today! I have to be better. I have to be the best. Rookie of the Year means nothing if I graduate early and become a better Genin than that dobe is."

Itachi looked down at his brother, slightly disheartened by his younger brothers reasons. Because their father had pushed him, Sasuke was forced to always play catch-up and be compared to him, who had graduated at seven, and made Chunin and ANBU not long after. Still, he had hoped to stop Sasuke from wanting their father's approval...it wasn't something they needed. Their father was not the same man he remembered years ago. The man wasn't even a shadow of the man he once was...constantly pushing him into things he didn't want. Into things he could never take back.

"Sasuke.." Itachi began, "Don't speak so ill of others. He has trained harshly for years while you have not."

"Because you and Father never train me!" the young boy nearly screamed. "Train me! I _need_ to get better."

Shaking his head, Itachi poked two of his fingers on Sasuke's forehead. "Maybe another time, little brother. I need to go to the Hokage." Without another word, Itachi brushed aside his brother and exited the head house, leaving a frustrated Sasuke in his wake.

No matter what he did, Itachi would always brush him off. His father didn't even bother with him. With a huff, Sasuke left the house and ran to the Clan training ground, determined to get better on his own if no one was going to help him. He had done it since he was little, and he could continue to do so.

He'd prove them all wrong.

He'd be the best shinobi Konoha would ever see.

Better than the Yondaime.

Better than his brother.

Better than the blonde dobe who graduated.

He'd make sure of it.

* * *

"I take it Fugaku-san did not take well to the news." Sarutobi stated grimly after he asked Itachi to take down the henge that hid his darkening bruises.

Itachi didn't need to nod or shake his head in reply, the answer was clear on his face and body. When he had arrived home to tell his father, as per his order, about his new assignment and his dropping of ANBU status, he had taken the news _badly._ Fugaku was, simply put, furious with the news, demanding that he go back to the Hokage and refuse the assignment and retake his rank in ANBU. He knew he was well on his way to being Captain, a few more missions and the position would undoubtedly be given to him.

For Itachi to give it up to train with a _child_, brought his blood-pressure levels to new heights.

In his anger, he had beaten Itachi as he usually had. Nothing permanent, nothing too painful...just a reminder of just _who_ he was: Fugaku's son. Anything he said, _went_. He said to jump, Itachi would have to ask how high.

"You will see a medic-nin to heal those." The Hokage commanded softly. "Now, you know everything that is to be done, yes?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I will be partnered with Naruto Uzumaki until such a time comes when he will be ready for the Chunin exams. I will observe all his D-rank missions, and accompany him on every C-rank from then on. I am to train with Naruto each day save the time when we are on missions."

"Yes." Sarutobi said with a small smile. He hoped that together, the two boys would become more open, and help each other heal the scars that had regretfully marred their skin. "You are also to check on his living quarters ever so often, he is young and living alone and will most probably need a bit of help with certain things."

Nodding, Itachi said, "Of course, Hokage-sama."

"Good." Hiruzen smiled a grandfatherly smile, "You begin training and if you'd like, D-ranks tomorrow. This is Naruto's address." he said passing him a slip of paper which Itachi looked at before pocketing it.

"I will meet him today to let him know of what is to happen from now on." Itachi said nodding to his Hokage. "Am I dismissed, Hokage-sama?"

"You are dismissed, Itachi. I look forward to seeing how this partnership goes." he said honestly.

Nodding once more, Itachi made his way to leave, but not before thinking, '_Me too, Hokage-sama. I look forward to it too.'_

* * *

A/N: Yeah...boring-ish. I know... BUUUUT~ next chapter is...!

Chapter 11: Confrontations

Guess what that'll be all about? :D


	11. Confrontations

A/N: Alright, so at the end of the vote, you guys chose for Minato to not be paired up with anyone, and I have to say, I agree with the majority vote. For several reasons, though mainly for the fact that he's mentally as old as the eligible girls fathers, and the fact that he _knew_ their parents. I don't think an older girl would do either...but that's my personal preference. Sooooo, I will not be pairing Minato up with anyone, but that doesn't mean _others_ won't fall for him. Perhaps a pale eyed stalker...or a 'troublesome' person? That's basically it! Hope you enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

Chapter 10: Confrontations

"We will not allow this to stand, Hokage!"

Slightly different statements were exclaimed continuously over the past few hours after Hiruzen Sarutobi had called for a Council meeting as per the request of his three Advisers. As much as he wanted to avoid this meeting, he knew it was inevitable that the council would find out of Naruto's rank as Genin. Like he had suspected, the Shinobi council seemed to find Naruto's promotion with stride, knowing that the reports written by Jiraiya, ANBU Weasel, and Kakashi Hatake were accurate, as were the reports given personally by the Hokage, of the boys training since he was a mere four years old, as well as the reasons behind it.

The Civilian Council, on the other hand, were outraged such a thing was kept from them, and demanded the boy be put back into the Academy and then expelled for daring to think he could graduate early without their approval. When the main body of the Civilian council discovered the boy was running around the Village with a shinobi headband wrapped around his forehead, they were furious beyond reason. They would not let this _demon_ defile their village any further than it already had. All their attempts to rid themselves of the beast were futile, so they could only hinder his progress in becoming a Shinobi - which became moot point when he was given his hitei-ate by the Hokage a mere day ago.

Sarutobi rubbed his tired eyes, already done with the repeating statements the Civilian Council was spewing. Unfortunately, not one had broken his law by claiming Naruto was a demon, so he couldn't send _any_ of them down to Ibiki. However tempted he was.

"ENOUGH!" he exclaimed, slamming his wrinkling hand down hard on the wooden table the entire council sat around.

The entire council sat silenced by the sudden stern command. None had seen Hiruzen Sarutobi act such a way since before the days of the Yondaime Hokage.

"The _brat_ is not to be made Genin, Hokage-_sama_. He cannot be capable of this _skill_ you state without the help of the beast! You endanger us all!" one random civilian exclaimed, getting agreeing nods from the other members.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and glared at the daring Civilian. "Naruto Uzumaki is _more_ than capable of completing D-ranks, and C-rank missions as a Shinobi. He has been trained since he was _four_. The reports handed to you all by Hatake, Weasel, Jiraiya, and _myself_ are accurate. None of you civilians have the ability to sense chakra, but enough to remember the feeling that the Kyuubi emitted. I have read no complaints of reports that the Kyuubi's chakra or aura were felt by either civilians or ninja. Naruto's power is his own. I will hear no more of this nonsense. The boy is a Shinobi now. _My_ Shinobi. You have no hold on him. This meeting is over. You are all dismissed."

The Shinobi council stared slightly awed at their Hokage. None of the heads had ever seen Sarutobi act so commanding since the war, but they weren't complaining now. The civilian council had gotten away with far too much when dealing with the ninja of the Village. They were damned proud of their Hokage and would support him all the way, as they were sworn to, regardless of their feelings toward Naruto, or any other matter.

The Civilians were red faced, and obviously, furious. It was clear through the Hokage's stern and cold tone that this meeting was indeed over and nothing said would be listened to, but they wouldn't let this matter go. The _boy_, if he could be called as such, was a menace. A time bomb just waiting to explode. And they give him _training!?_ A _genin_ rank?! It was foolish and because of it, they would undoubtedly meet their end at the hands of the demon.

No, they would not let this go.

They would take matters into their own hands.

No matter what.

* * *

Minato was enjoying a casual stroll around the Village, noticing that the majority of civilians were staring at him with greater hatred than Naruto or himself had seen before. It was slightly concerning, but he knew that such reactions were to be expected. The orphan _demon_ boy had been made a shinobi, and as such, protected as one. Anything they did to him would be marked as not only assault, but assault on a Konoha Shinobi, which warranted much harsher punishment.

It was both a blessing and a curse in Minato's eyes. He knew that it would be years before he could begin to change the Civilians perspective on his son, but in the end, it would be worth it.

As he strolled around, Minato thought it would be a good idea to take a bath, and wandered off to the hot springs, henging through the back alley's into the same unsuspecting man he disguised himself as whenever he wanted to pay like any other man. It wasn't a long walk, considering he was already on that side of the Village, though he had decided to make it at a sprint in order to get even a little bit of training in after the long morning he had with Itachi Uchiha.

To be perfectly honest, he was more than a bit surprised when the young Chunin had come up to him and said that, under the Hokage's direct order, they were to be partners until he had made Chunin himself, and perhaps even afterward if they made a good team. Minato bowed to his new partner in respect, and said he looked forward to working with him, and promised to use his Kage Bushins in order to speed through the required minimum of D-ranks so that they could get started with C-ranked missions as soon as possible.

While he was sure the stoic Uchiha would deny it if it were ever brought up, Minato sworn he heard Itachi chuckle lowly at the statement.

Regardless of what happened during their partnership, he was sure of one thing; he would make sure to break Itachi Uchiha's mask and bring back the kid that he was supposed to be.

When he made it to the hot springs, Minato paid the man behind the desk and went toward the men's bath area, and was struck with a horribly familiar sight.

Jiraiya, on top of a toad, peeping on the women's baths.

He mentally face palmed at the sight.

Of _course_ the idiot would take back to his "research" rather than try to meet with his godson. Like he always had, Jiraiya ran away from his problems, hoping they would leave him alone. The same could easily be said about Tsunade, but she wasn't anywhere _near_ Konoha, so he couldn't do much about her at the time being.

He _could_ do a hell of a lot to Jiraiya now though.

Castrating the bastard was the first thing that came to mind.

With a soft ploom of smoke, Minato expelled his henge and walked up to the toad as Jiraiya giggled pervertedly while writing down some things in his notebook.

"Get back to Pa." he whispered to the Toads ear so that Jiraiya wouldn't hear or notice him. "I need to talk to my _godfather_ alone."

The toad, whose name he couldn't place for the life of him, stared at Minato with wide eyes. From the look of shock on his face, it was clear he had noticed Naruto looked _scarily_ similar to Minato, and with a soft ploom of smoke, dispelled back to the other Toads, undoubtedly gone to tell Pa, and/or Bunta of what he had seen.

Jiraiya was in the middle of writing something down and fell ungracefully down to the hard stone floor flat on his face. No amount of training had prepared him for the sudden disappearance of his summons, especially not when he was distracted by certain...assets seen on the other side of the wooden fence.

With an annoyed groan and grunt, Jiraiya stood up, prepared to call back Goma and ask why the he decided to dispel so suddenly, when he caught sight of a familiar sun-kissed blonde head of hair at the corner of his eye.

Looking to the side, Jiraiya was met with the narrowed glare of his student's son. All thoughts about his upcoming Icha Icha were lost at the darkened sky-blue eyes that stared at him so intensely. He wasn't sure if he hoped to skip actually talking to his godson, but he was sure that he didn't _want_ to have this confrontation with him...no matter how much the boy deserved it.

"Ah, hey there, gaki!" Jiraiya said with a pathetically fake smile, "Don't happen to know why Goma, the toad, decided to disappear, do you?"

"Let's skip the idle chat, Jiraiya." Minato said wanting to cut straight to the point, and knowing the Sannin would try to duck out of this conversation. "Where were you?"

Jiraiya looked at his ex-student's son with wide eyes. He knew that Naruto knew everything thanks to a fail-safe his father had implanted into the seal...that didn't mean he believed that he knew _everything._ No matter what he said, nothing would get him out of talking, and they both knew that.

"Naruto...I-" Jiraiya began, trying to find the right words to say, though they both knew nothing said would be good enough.

"Where. The. _F__uck_. Were. You?" Minato asked harshly, cutting the perverted man off before he could try to wriggle himself out of this conversation.

For a moment, Jiraiya was shocked. The boy was _seven_ years old, and while mentally he was at around at least ten from what he had admitted thanks to the seal Minato used, he could swear that Naruto was older, if nothing else, the look in his eyes.

Taking the white haired mans pause, Minato pressed on with a harsh voice, channeling all the pain Naruto had felt. "Where were you when I was being beaten, stabbed, burned, and _ripped_ _apart _by the people of this Village? Where were you all those nights I wondered why people _hated_ my very existence? Where were you when I was starving and dumpster diving for measly scraps so that I wouldn't go to sleep, in a filthy health hazardous apartment, with a constricting stomach? Where were you when I cried myself to sleep days on end because no one would so much as look at me?"

He couldn't be kind about this. He couldn't allow his past feelings of this man let such heinous neglect go unpunished. This man, was supposed to be Naruto's Godfather. The man who was to take him in, along with his Godmother, should he and Kushina be unable to take care of him. The Old Man was never personally asked to take care of Naruto, merely make sure he was to be seen for who he truly was. This man, was supposed to love him like a father would. Supposed to feed, clothe, bathe, and care for him.

Supposed to _love_ him.

Yet rather than fulfilling his responsibilities, the perverted man chose to distract himself with his childish hobbies. Choosing to peep on women during their baths and write graphic novels for a living rather than care for a living, breathing, human being.

It was unacceptable.

And Naruto _died_ because of it.

Jiraiya stared at the small boy with wide eyes, frozen by what he had said. He knew that life wasn't easy for him, considering the entire civilian population thought him a demon, but burned? Stabbed? _Ripped apart? _No, that he had no idea of.

"Wh-wha?" he stuttered out, still unable to find his words. Naruto stared at him with, not hatred as he had suspected, but sheer and utter disappointment. Which, for some reason, hurt far worse than he knew hatred to hurt.

"Na-Naruto...I..."

"I know where you were." The boy continued harshly. "You were doing _exactly _what you were doing just now. Writing perverted, and _worthless_ pieces of, if it can be called such, literature instead of taking care of your _Godson!_ I'm seven! If I didn't nearly die and have dad train me in my head, I wouldn't have seen you till I graduated the Academy! If even then!"

Jiraiya could scarcely look at the twin blue orbs that stared straight into his soul. There was nothing he could say to make it better. Nothing he could say to excuse him for his actions.

'I'm sorry' wouldn't be enough.

Nothing he said would _ever_ be enough.

"He doesn't hate you." Minato said, bringing Jiraiya's dark eyes to stare into his. "No, he could never _hate_ you, Jiraiya. He is disappointed. Utterly disappointed and said, _"I will never forgive him, even as he becomes nothing to me. Nothing because he couldn't even try to speak my son."_" Have a nice life, Jiraiya." he continued. "You won't be seeing me again until I'm ready to sign the Toad Summoning Contract like my father did." Without bothering to even take a bath like he had planned, Minato walked calmly out of the men's baths and left a frozen Sannin in his wake.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk contemplating over what was said at the Council meeting. Everything seemed to just explode with Naruto's graduation to Genin rank, and with his law being skillfully avoided at being broken, very few civilians were at the T.I department under the tender care of Ibiki. The few, however, were an example of what would come should it be broken anymore, and it seemed that the threat was being taken seriously. For once.

Danzo, Homura, and Koharu, all said to let them leave with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, as he had done so many times before. But now, he would be resolute. He had made a promise...and oath to Naruto and himself that he would not let this prejudice stand any longer without some sort of punishment. He knew that no matter what he did, he could never eradicate the hatred that he had allowed to fester toward Naruto, but he could be damn sure that he would stop it from growing until Naruto himself would be able to prove he was the son of the Villages beloved Yondaime Hokage.

He wouldn't lie to himeself, however. He knew that the glares the civilian council had leveled him would not be the last they would do. There was an unspoken promise in their glares, a promise that would undoubtedly harm Naruto in some way.

With narrowed eyes, he swore to himself that whatever happened, he would put a stop to it all before Naruto was hurt again.

He was the Hokage, he'd be damned before he let any of those ignorant civilians lay another hand on the blonde.

* * *

It was hardly a disinteresting day for Danzo Shimura.

Thanks to his ROOT ANBU, he had been the first (out of the original circle) to be informed that Naruto Uzumaki, the Jiinchuriki to the Kyuubi, had been given Genin rank after the test. It had been he who let the news leak through the proper channels, so that the other council members would find out through the villagers rather than the Hokage himself, leaving many members furious they were kept from such knowledge.

It would undoubtedly push the sad excuse of a Hokage to put the brat back to the Academy, and into the molding hands of his ANBU he had placed as an Instructor.

He was slightly surprised that Hiruzen gained backbone after so many years of cowing to their every demand. Surprising, and frustrating to no end.

Because of his sudden commanding demeanor, he had to throw away the plans he had set for the Uzumaki, and write up entirely new ones. Though, now that the boy was a shinobi, it would be slightly easier to bring him into his hold, considering he was to be partnered with the Uchiha prodigy.

It was a damned near perfect set up. What better way to kill two birds with one stone when said birds were a package deal?

"You will bring the boy to me. Unharmed." Danzo commanded one of his ROOT stationed at the door.

The white masked ANBU merely bowed in acceptance and disappeared into the shadows while Danzo sat in his chair, reading through numerous paperwork and reports with the speedy eidedic memory capability of the Sharingan.

His plan would succeed.

And he'd have both the Uchiha and Uzumaki as his weapons.

* * *

"Is this an accurate report?" a low deep voice demanded from a diminutive boy that kneeled in front of him.

"Ye-yes, it is accurate." the boy managed to whisper out.

The man looked at the report in his hands, and read through the detailed description. The news was something of great interest, after all, he was set to go to Konoha soon enough, what's to say he wouldn't come back without a little blonde, blue eyed souvenier?

At that thought, the man crackled a menacing laugh that shook the poor boy in front of him deeply. Whatever his master was planning after reading through his report...it would certainly _not_ fare well for whoever else was involved.

He desperately hoped he wasn't one of those poor sods involved.

* * *

Minato took a long time walking back to his apartment. He didn't pay attention to those around him, though he vaguely remembered a surprised face of one Shikamaru Nara as he passed the Academy. He figured that would bite him in the butt later on, but for now, he just wanted to go home and sleep.

A part of him screamed to run back to Jiraiya, and explain everything to him...but he couldn't. Not to himself, and not to Naruto.

He just _couldn't_.

With a calming intake of breath, Minato walked into his apartment and began to write in his journal. Everything he had done and what had happened the past few days jotted down in detail with a slightly mechanical hand. As he wrote about Itachi Uchiha, he felt as though he were missing something.

_Uchiha_ his mind repeated. The sudden attack of images from the battle between he and the Kyuubi suddenly sprung to his mind. _Uchiha_. The Sharingan... he wanted to curse and scream at himself for forgetting something so vital.

Uchiha.

_Madara_ Uchiha.

The man he saw who was behind the attack on Konoha. The one who was _controlling_ the Kyuubi. The man who had killed his wife, destroyed his life, and through that, killed his son.

A man who was supposed to have been dead for _decades_.

There was only one thing that ran through Minato's mind that summed up every possible outcome of this knowledge.

_"Shit."_

* * *

A/N: Reviews are _loved.__  
_


	12. Path to the Truth

A/N: I AM SOOO SORRY! I kept on telling myself that I would update this story, but to be honest, I have had, like, NO inspiration at all... I have idaes floating around and everything, but no drive to put it all down. I wish that everything I think of would just be automatically typed out, because if it was, then this story would have been updated _weeks_ ago. All I can say is I am truly, deeply sorry and that I will try my best to scrounge up enough drive to update this story as I had planned to when I went on my short leave of abcense on this site. Anyway, here is the next chapter that's been written out _finally_. I am **_not_** happy with how it came out, and will _definitely_ come back to change a few things, but for now, I think you all deserve to see what has happened to Minato and everything, so here it is!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**Demon/Deity  
****_Demon/Deity thoughts_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 12: Path to the Truth

When morning came, Minato woke up with a groan. He needed to do something about Madara Uchiha, and do something fast. He could easily tell Hiruzen the truth behind the night of the Kyuubi attack, but he definitely had to tread carefully over the subject. Anything he said would have countless ripples, ones that were unpredictable and could very well lead to war in a worse case situation.

Kami, he hated politics.

It was never simple. He couldn't just say they needed to kill Madara right now because then that would more than likely lead to war, and have Madara enact plans he undoubtedly had laid out before him, early on, on a Village that was grossly unprepared for anything of the sort. More than that, there were ripples for every little decision made. One word, and a person could very go out and set things in motion that could very easily affect the world for decades to come.

It was far more complicated now that he was in the body of a seven year old.

Why couldn't it be simple?

He couldn't influence decisions directly as he once could, only inform those in authority like Hiruzen of the threat...after that, it was very possible that he would be left in the dark of any plans he would make until he was deemed a shinobi on a "need to know" rank. Which probably wouldn't happen for at _least_ another five years. He had seen the look in Sarutobi's eyes when he granted him the chance to spar for Genin rank, a part of him that still wished he could be a child for a little while longer. He was positive that the Old Man would do as much as possible to keep him "ignorant" to the terrors of Shinobi life.

Regardless of what would come of this, he _had_ to tell Sarutobi the truth behind the Kyuubi attack. Not doing so would _definitely_ lead to horrors of the utmost disturbing and, possibly, catastrophic kind.

When and, more importantly, _how,_ though?

With a soft sigh, he realized he would have to think further on the matter before he did anything, most probably resort to meditating if he truly couldn't find a good solution without it. Either way, right now he had to make it to his meeting with Itachi near the Hokage Tower.

* * *

"It would be best if you make some clones so we can do two D-ranks at the same time, I can make only one clone and maintain it long enough for us to get the missions complete, otherwise, I would suggest we do more than two." Itachi said in a dull tone. Clearly he was as excited as Minato was in completing the D-rank missions. Ones which were action packed with dog-walking, and weeding out a garden.

Joy.

Weeding a garden would be childs play, considering he could easily create and equal ratio of clones to weeds and have them simultaneously extract the weeds and have the garden fixed within less than ten minutes. The dog walking would have to actually take more time, but either way, they would be done withing the hour.

"Afterwards, we'll continue on your training, focusing on your physical strength and speed. Gai-sempai has agreed to continue training you in this aspect along with your friend, Rock Lee. I will join you and when his training regimen is complete, we will finish with a spar."

"Okay, Itachi-sensei." Minato said with a fox-like smile. He was particularly glad that he wasn't going to be separated from his friend. He knew that the moment he took on higher ranking missions, his free time in the village would become more and more sparse, not to mention sporadic. He was sure that Lee would be ecstatic at the thought of training with another person he had never fought before if only to test himself. However, he had a feeling that Itachi wasn't looking completely forward to training with Gai and his...eccentrics, but the young man took it with stride.

* * *

"I never want to do D-ranks again!" Minato groaned as the dull memories of weed removing came back to him with a force. Itachi and he had both finished walking the dogs - well, he did, Itachi merely observed, which could have been far more dull than actually walking them - and had moved back to a training ground where they worked on his physical strength and speed. He wasn't complaining about it, in fact, Minato welcomed the exercises because it brought him that much closer to the strength that he once was.

Itachi was equally annoyed with having to monitor these D-rank missions. Even though he knew that this was to help a fellow shinobi, and prodigy, he couldn't help but feel it was something of punishment. He was ANBU, or had been at least, reverting back to D-ranks and his Chuunin status was disheartening...but he would do as his Hokage asked without question, even if it meant pushing through these utterly _dull_ D-Rank missions they would be doing for the next week or so. Hopefully by then, they'll have reached the minimum of D-ranks for new genin and they'll be able to take on C-rank missions. Given that he had more training than any ordinary Chuunin despite his age, and Naruto being trained by both the Hokage _and_ Jiraiya of the Sennin, obtaining a C-rank should be no trouble.

"Hnn." Itachi hummed in agreement. "Let us return to the tower with the scrolls, and have the successful missions officially put on your records." he said beginning to walk toward the tower. "We are meeting Gai-sempai and your friend at Training Ground 12 in three hours. It would be wise to obtain some nourishment before then."

Minato raised a blonde eyebrow at his new partner/sensei, confused as to why a boy his age would talk so...adult like. Then again, the boy had been in ANBU...Why Hiruzen would _ever_ allow a child to be sent into ANBU was beyond him. Children did _not_ need to be exposed to the life of ANBU. It was supposed to be for seasoned Shinobi who have seen the horrors the world could commit, NOT prodigies who knew of _nothing_ about the real world. If he ever got the chance to, he would tell the old man off for allowing _both_ Kakashi and Itachi into the Corps.

"You mean get a late breakfast, right?" Minato asked as a seven year old normally would. To be perfectly honest, acting as a child should was beginning to grate on his mental sanity. Never being able to actually talk the way you normally would and having to filter out everything you _want_ to say so that no one would notice he was far wiser and smarter for his age, despite spending "an unknown amount of years" in the seal with his "dad" and "mom". He was going mad with not having a proper, intelligent conversation with someone...but within a few _short_ years, it would be _exp__ected _of him to carry on a proper conversation, and knowing this was the one of the few things that kept him going with the constant reminder to sound like a child.

Itachi looked down at him with a blank look and nodded. "Yes. I suppose it would be best to go together. I know little of you and vice versa with you to me. Knowing ones partner will help with teamwork while out on the field."

"So, we'll eat lunch together so we can get to know each other better?" he asked lightly in clarification.

"Hnn."

"Okay!" Minato said excitedly with a bright fox-like smile and walking with a bounce in his step. He could feel it within his very bones that this would be how his son would react to someone telling him they would like to get to know him better. His son had been friendless his entire life, constantly being chased away from children his age because of what he carried inside him, and adults never giving him the time of day because they considered him to be a demon living in a human child's skin. Though he now had Lee as a friend, Naruto would have been overjoyed with knowing someone _else_ wanted to know him as well.

Once they reached the Mission Report desk and turned in the successful mission report, the pair turned to leave and head toward the civilian sector of the village where most of the restaurants and food stands were located.

Itachi eventually led him to a small, but humble, restaurant that served a variety of healthy and nutritious dishes. It was run by an elderly man and woman who had the aura of retired shinobi. Minato smiled happily at them when the man merely smiled politely and led them to an empty table with water and their menus before them. He would remember to come back to this restaurant alone and see if this reaction was simply because Itachi was with him, or if the couple here truly didn't care about him being a jinchuuriki.

"I will order for you." Itachi said taking Minato's menu from in front of him. "You will need much nutrition in everything you eat from now on, and I will assist you in that regard. When training with Gai-sempai is over, I will come over to your apartment and see if the food you have is satisfactory in terms of nutritional value."

Minato blinked at the teen in front of him. This kid just didn't know how to act like a...well, kid! If he was still alive he would have been forcing the Uchiha to have fun or something! The guy couldn't _honestly_ be taking the shinobi code for "no emotions" literally? It was emotions that made them _human!_ Something that a certain old war hawk simply _couldn't_ understand. Kami he hoped that old man _never _ got his hold on Itachi... the guy deserved some semblance of a childhood...

"Okay..." Minato said slowly, watching as Itachi ordered him a hearty plate of food consisting of steamed salmon, rice, and an abundance of vegetables. He ate the food slowly, not wanting to let go of his control and scarf down the food as his sons body was trained to, in front of Itachi. However, the observant teen seemed to notice anyway, thankfully, however, he refrained from questioning it.

When they were done with their lunch nearly an hour later, having spoken between bites a little about themselves, Itachi said it would be best to head over to the Training Ground and begin stretches before they began training with Gai-sempai. The pair reached the Training Ground shortly after they left the restaurant, even though they had taken the long route as well as walked slowly to help digest their late breakfast.

"Stretch out." Itachi said as he began to stretch his muscles in preparation for whatever Gai-sempai had in store for them.

"Hai." Minato answered obediently. He knew the importance of stretching before training, as did all shinobi. If you didn't do the simple stretches, there was a chance for injury and dealing with shin splits, or pulled muscles was painful as well as ghastly annoying. By the time they were done, a trail of dust blocked their vision for a short while, the end of the trail leading to two slightly sweaty green-spandex men.

"Ah! Itachi-san, Naruto! Good you're here! Shame you weren't here earlier, you could have joined in our most youthful race!" Gai exclaimed with his "good-guy" pose, his teeth giving off a most uncomfortable twinkle.

"YOSH! I will do five hundred push ups and three hundred squats for my youthful loss against you Gai-sensei!" Lee said with a salute. The taller green-clad man turned to the smaller boy with tears in his eyes.

"Lee!" He said happily spreading out his arms toward his student.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee answered, also spreading out his arms. Minato felt as though something that could not be unseen were about to happen, but for some reason, could not look away.

"Lee!" Gai exclaimed with anime-like tears streaming down his face, hugging his student.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee also exclaimed hugging back his teacher.

It was then that both Minato and Itachi saw a wave crashing against a rock behind the pair. They immediately decided that it was the _most_ unsettling thing they had ever seen, and Minato could only shudder at thinking how Gai really found his long-lost son in Lee...

Konoha was doomed to have _two_ Gai's...

Suppressing another shudder, Minato immediately covered his eyes, doing his best to un-see what Gai and Lee had just shared. Itachi, thankfully, coughed in his hand to regain their attention and stop them from continuing on with that...unsettling scene.

"Ah! Onto training of course! First, we shall do training set number 4!" Gai said happily, referring to the certain training regime that he created to help strengthen the core and upper arm strength. Complying, both Lee and Minato began the exercises, which were mirrored perfectly by both Itachi and Gai who both believed that one could never get enough training in, and could always continue to better themselves.

It was a few hours, and a lot of sweat later that Gai officially declared training to be over. Lee was expected back at the orphanage as soon as it was over, so he had bid everyone a "youthful" farewell and ran toward the orphanage at top speed while Gai smiled and left to do whatever it was Gai normally did when no training or on a mission.

"Now, we should head to your apartment. I want to see if you have the nutrition you require." Itachi said to Minato while wiping some sweat from his brow. Even though they had cooled down with a simple kata, his body was still overheated from the rigorous training Gai put them through.

"Okay, Itachi-sensei." Minato said with a smile, leading the way to his apartment when only a few short minutes after they left the Training Ground did an ANBU intercept them.

"Itachi-san, your Father requests your presence immediately." the Boar masked ANBU said diligently, sending light KI toward Minato.

With narrowed eyes from sensing the KI, Itachi nodded and said, "I will return home straight away." With a stiff nod, the ANBU left in a swirl of leaves. "I must go home, but I will arrive at your apartment tomorrow morning to inspect your groceries. For now, rest and enjoy the rest of your day." Itachi said to him before he too left in a swirl of leaves.

With a small sigh, Minato dragged himself home, watching happily as the sun began to make it's descent on the horizon.

* * *

As his apartment building was far from the Training Field, and the fact that he was already in a slightly populated area, Minato had to walk home, choosing not to over-strain his muscles by running any more than what Gai already had him do. By the time he reached his district, the sun had already completely fallen, and the moon had taken it's place.

Looking up, Minato smiled at the bright fullness of the moon as it stood amongst the stars in the sky. He fondly remembered a story told to him when he was a child, a story that every single star represented a person who had passed on. That in death, one became a star to watch over their loved ones who still remained on Earth and even the darkest of times, lighting their way. It was a nice thought, thinking that both his wife and son were watching down upon him, somewhere among the thousands of stars that littered the night sky.

A noise brought his attention down the street he walked along. There weren't that many people walking out, but there were the few who sneered and glared his direction. Remaining alert, Minato continued to make his way home, and it was only when he skillfully dodged at glass beer bottle that was aimed at his head that he turned around completely.

There behind him were a number of civilians, obviously drunk from their swaggering stances and bottles in their hands, staring murderously at him.

"Demon brat! Take your punishment for everything you've done to us!" One man screamed, an angry fist shaking in the air at him.

"Get the demon!" Another screamed before they began to race toward him.

A part that was Minato screamed at him to beat every single one of these bastards to the ground and then some, but the fear that had been rooted into Naruto's very body caused him to turn around and run for his life, forgetting the fact that he could _easily_ shushin out and into the safety of his apartment, or even the Hokage Tower which would definitely be safer.

As the now growing mob of people chased him, Minato wondered where the ANBU were, and why they _weren't_ doing anything t stop this from escalating. His only theory was that the ANBU General had a grudge against him for simply being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and played some part in this, or that they were simply being lax in their duties, the latter being _highly_ doubtful...

Skillfully dodging the items thrown at him, Minato raced in and out of the side-streets, hoping to loose the mob that chased him mercilessly. He had though he had escaped for a brief moment, only to run into another group, effectively boxing him in. Their murderous glares caused Minato to shrink back into the far wall they had cornered him into, but when a man attempted to grab his hair and throw him into the ground, Minato finally regained control, his fight instincts coming on in full strength.

With his smaller hand, Minato grabbed hold of the man's wrist and twisted it as quickly as he could before directing the man to the side, sending him tumbling down into a few more civilians. Then, a man kicked him straight in the face and Minato lost it completely.

These...scum, had beaten up a child more defenseless than he...beaten him until he was bloody and his voice hoarse from his screams and pleads for help. These...monsters, had been the ones to kill his only son. A _boy_ of seven who had done _nothing wrong to th__em_! An innocent!

No, these bastards would never harm his sons body again.

He fought back, as best as he could while being surrounded by men far larger and physically stronger than he. For a while, he had been winning, leaving unconscious civilians on the floor with various injuries. But one man, who had to have had _some_ shinobi training, took him by surprise and threw him into the wall harshly, causing him to lose his breath. Falling to the ground, Minato immediately curled into himself, protecting his head and his knees pulled up to his chest, knowing that the man towering over him would kick him. But instead of stomping on him, or kicking him in the back, the man grabbed a hold of his collar and brought him up again, looking at him straight in the eyes before he punched him in the face, the strength of the punch literally shaking his brain.

He vaguely heard another man scream and pull the civilian off of him, but he had already fallen to the floor, his vision clouding with black spots and the world becoming further and further away.

He could feel strong hands lift him from the floor, but when he opened his eyes after darkness had completely engulfed him, he was not in Konoha. Instead, Minato found himself in some sort of sewer...a thin sheet of water on the floor.

_'Where...where am I?' _Minato thought to himself, noticing through the reflection of the water on the floor, that he was in _his_ body and not that of his sons.

Curiously, Minato walked down the tunnel like sewer, hoping to see an ending but only felt an all to familiarly malicious chakra. Right there in front of him, not thirty feet away, he saw the seal he had created for half of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, as well as the seals manifestation in a cage like form. Within the bars, Minato caught sight of all to familiar red slitted eyes and did his best to repress a shudder.

The Kyuubi.

The Nine Tailed Beast roared in absolute anger and swatted out his paw through the bars, trying to claw at Minato even though he was at a safe distance.

**"Fourth!"**

* * *

A/N: In case you haven't noticed, I suck at Itachi's personality...but I'll be sure to re-read as much Naruto with his speech in it in order to get a feel for his way of speaking...

Also, I just want to explain a few things since they have come to my attention. Minato is in fact training diligently, every day on his chakra control, and physical strength and endurance. I know I haven't exactly written out his training regime, but honestly, I don't want to unless absolutely necessary because it's just a small filler that I don't really want to put in a chapter when there are other things I want to focus my time on. So, until I decide to put something in there about his training, just know that he is and is slowly getting back to a good level for his age. He can't be the amazing, invincible ninja that he was once viewed as since he's _seven_, but he'll be on par with a low-mid Chunin due to his battle knowledge.

Since there have been a small number of reoccurring questions, I've decided to answer them here. Any other questions that come up will be addressed at a later time.

1) Pairings?

A: As stated in previous chapters, Minato _**will not**_ be paired up with anyone in this fic due to reasons stated in said chapters. If you are adamant in stating your opinion on the matter or have further inquiries on the subject, PM me and I will gladly explain my reasoning's further and hear/read you out. This _doesn't_ mean that the _other_ characters won't feel drawn to him in a more-than-friendly way. EDIT: For those of you who believe that this is plain stupid, understand, PLEASE, that Minato is mentally as old as their parents! How would you like to date and fall in love with someone as old, and grew up with your dad or mom? Even if you knew and accepted it, you can't tell me that's not creepy on so many levels. And even if he _does_ date an older character, there is _still_ a creepy age difference between the two, as Minato is in Naruto's body. As for those who believe he should leave his legacy behind, family isn't all about _blood, _and I think Minato is just the person to go out and adopt an orphan and raise him or her as his own.

2) Will this story follow Canon from now on?

A: Not sure how this questions came about, but to answer, no, it will not. Obviously nearly everything will be going different, seeing as Naruto isn't _Naruto_, and is in fact, Minato. Sure I'll follow the basic timeline of major events (at least taking them into consideration and how I have Minato act upon things change them) but overall, no.

3) Will there be Yaoi/Slash (M/M)?

A: It's come to my attention that this was a poorly written answer, so I apologize for that. To answer, yes, I will be having at least one male/male couple in my story. The reasons behind this are because in our society today, statistically speaking, one out of three people are homosexual. I have no qualms with the subject, nor writing about it so why _shouldn't_ there be one? To think that an _entire_ village, no, world, is completely heterosexual is simply unrealistic. So, regardless of what some of you people say, I won't be changing this, and all of the planning I've done thus far just because you have issues with even thinking about a man/man relationship.

4) Will Minato be super-powered and/or gary stew-ish?

A: Nope. He'll be far more adept to the shinobi lifestyle since he's lived it once before, but if you mean superpowered as in, all of a sudden obtaining the Rinnengan or a bloodline never before seen or thought to be extinct - definitely not. I'm a sucker for those stories, sure, but in this one, those characteristics will not be shown.

5) Will this be a long story?

A: Depends on what you consider to be long. Truthfully, I'm partially making this story as I go along; writing up something that comes to me at the oddest of times (like when I'm talking to a customer at work, or in the middle of homework or class) but I do plan on making it past the 100,000 word mark at least.

6) Y U NO UPDATE!?

A: ...I got lost on the road of life...


	13. The One Nearly Forgotten

A/N: Has it really been two months since I updated? Damn, I am so sorry readers! I really didn't mean to put this off for so long! I've been adding slowly and slowly onto this chapter for weeks but never got around to completing the whole thing till now. Sorry! I hope you enjoy!

Key:

"Speech"**  
'**_Thoughts'_  
**"Demon/Deity"  
****_'Demon/Deity thoughts__'_**  
_"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"_

* * *

Chapter 13: The One Nearly Forgotten

It had been a long and tiring day for Tsunade Senju; both mentally and physically. A mere month ago, Sarutobi had sent her a missive requesting her presence back in the Village, one that she _'politely'_ declined. She refused to go back to the damned village that had taken everything she loved from her. She didn't need to go back, they could very well take care of themselves for all she cared. It was only when Sarutobi began to send her daily missives from his monkey summons that she had begun to have enough. She had planned to send the last messenger with one of her chakra enhanced punches until Shizune read the contents of the letter. The man was threatening her with marking her as a missing nin if she didn't come back!

At that moment, she packed up her bags and dragged tonton and Shizune back to the Village, hell bent on giving the old man a piece of her mind.

What she didn't expect was that while she stopped in a small town's Casino near Konoha, was to win the jackpot of over 10 million Ryo. Shizune was ecstatic, having enough money to completely settle the growing debts she had accumulated over the years, but Tusnade paled deathly white, knowing what this stroke of 'luck' really was.

When the explosions of confetti began, Tsunade ordered Shizune to cash out and pack immediately; they were going to run the rest of the way to Konoha, before something truly terrible happened. To be completely honest, Tsunade wasn't truly paying attention whether or not Shizune was close to her, though she knew that with her training as a medic she would do well enough to keep up, all she was focusing on was getting to Konoha and praying to every god and goddess known that this luck wasn't as terrible as she hoped it would be.

When the four carved heads of the past and current Hokage's came to view, the last Senju picked up her pace and didn't care to bother with the guards, knowing that Shizune would do well enough to handle her coming back to the village on her own. She had been half way to the Hokage Tower when she felt faint killing intent from near the civilian sector of the village. The pale blonde sennin stopped her roof jumping and turned to the direction of the murderous intent, only to rush forward toward it when she heard yells and screams...then the howling pain of a child's scream.

As soon as the child's screams reached her ears, Tsunade raced toward its origin, and felt rage course through her body before it froze entirely, her eyes wide, unable to look away. The child's body was covered in blood. His hair matted down with it, his arm and leg strewn in odd directions. His cruel torturers were both civilian and shinobi alike, reeking of alcohol as they kicked the child harder into the ground. With another scream escaping the child's strained throat, Tsunade simply stared, unable to do anything, her entire body feeling as though the blood were on her. Her hands drenched in the blood of her brother. Dan's blood dripping down her face.

It was all over her and she was frozen from even breathing.

The boy screamed one last time as he was thrown against the alley wall, his head leaving tell tale spider-web cracks on the stone from the impact. She could see that he wouldn't be getting up from that, for his consciousness had already left him.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune's voice broke through her thoughts, if only for the moment, "You need to heal him! We need to stop these...monsters!" she urged her, almost desperately.

When Tsunade wouldn't move, Shizune went on to take down the little boy's attackers without mercy. How was this able to happen? ANBU were stationed around the clock in every part of the village, at least _one_ would have heard the boy's screams for help and come. So why hadn't they?

When each man and woman laid on the cold floor in different states of unconsciousness and pain, Shizune rushed over to the child, her healing chakra already covering her hands as she pressed them to the child's chest. The boy had lost consciousness, either through the last forceful throw into the alley wall, or from the pain, she had no indication of knowing, but as she began to heal him, Tsunade continued to pale.

She could see the sun-kissed skin beneath the now visible bruises covering his body, the sun-dipped blonde hair she had only ever seen on another...and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that beneath those closed eye lids held the brightest blue eyes that would shame the summer sky...

She knew that this was Minato's child. That this was Naruto Namikaze.

That this was Tsunade's godson.

It had been during one of Tsunade's drunken stupors that she learned of his existence, that he was the son of the beloved Fourth and Kushina Uzumaki. What she didn't know, however, was that the boy was the vessel to the most powerful of the tailed-beasts.

Even so, she doubled her efforts on his body, breathing in deep breaths of relief as his vitals stabilized, giving her the means to transport him to the hospital where she could properly heal him. Carefully, Shizune lifted the small body to her chest, cradling him as one would a babe, before she shushined to the Konoha Hospital. The woman at the front desk began to shout orders for doctors, and a gurney, but Shizune's glare stopped them all from making a move to take the child from her arms. Instead of paying the doctors and nurses any mind, Shizune rushed to the better part of the Hospital, where each room was fitted with everything she would need to heal him properly without any outside distractions.

It took the better part of two hours before Shizune could relax and wait for Naruto to awaken. His injuries were severe, but thankfully nothing that was truly life threatening; though she supposed she had Kushina to thank for that, as Uzumaki's were famed to have greater healing capabilities as well as generous longevity.

Once he was breathing in deep, uninhibited breaths of air, Shizune went rushed back to where she had left both Tonton and Tsunade, finding the small pig trying to console a still slightly frozen Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama..." she said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and lightly shook it, knowing that the elder woman's eyes were still staring intently down at the blood that remained, ANBU _finally_ on the scene and taking the knocked out attackers to holding cells for further questioning. "Tsunade-sama, we need to go...he needs you...Naruto needs you."

Tsunade forced her eyes to leave the blood that painted the street, the blood of her godchild... the little boy that Minato wouldn't stop parading about before he was even born. The little boy that had sent Kushina in the most hysterical bi-polar attitudes while she carried him. The little boy she never even laid eyes on before Minato sacrificed himself and the child for the sake of the Village.

She looked to Shizune and nodded before the younger woman picked Tonton up and they both shushined to the Hospital. Once they were there, she didn't bother acknowledging the idiots that ran the place and followed Shizune as she lead them into Naruto's room.

Immediately, she ran a scan over the boy, glad that her teachings had been fruitful for Shizune healed him as best as healing jutsu's could. Upon looking at his medical records, she couldn't believe what had happened to her Godson. To Minato and Kushina's child. From the file, this was hardly the fist time Naruto had been in the hospital for serious injuries and wounds. She had been told...Sarutobi had sent her a letter that he was going to be fine in Konoha! That even though both Minato and Kushina were gone, he would be well taken care of and loved. That he would be trained, and no one would know that Minato had used him as the vessel for the Kyuubi no Youko...that he would be raised like any other ordinary little brat born in Konoha.

This was the furthest from the truth!

Ohh, the old man would pay once he came through that door. She knew he would come, news of her healing him, or rather a child if no one recognized him, would have already circulated back to the Hokage Tower and into the Hokage's aged ears. He would come in here and she would give him a piece of her mind. Damned if he's the Hokage! Damned if he's her past teacher and once friend of her Grandfather and Grand Uncle! This was _unacceptable._

She walked over to the unconscious boy's side, pushing some of his hair aside gently as she glared murderously as the door opened and revealed an older man wearing the most ridiculous hat she would ever lay eyes on.

Oh.

There would be hell to pay.

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Minato stared fearfully at the creature before his anger lashed out at him, filling his entire being with unadulterated hatred toward the creature. True, he understood that Madara had the Kyuubi under his control, perhaps even against his will, but the facts remained that it was this blasted demons fault for _existing_ that destroyed his, and his families lives.

He cooled his expression, forcefully regaining control over his raging emotions.

"Kyuubi." he said coldly.

**"So," **the Kyuubi sneered, retracting his paw, **"You finally show yourself to me? The failure that caused his own son to be murdered?"**

Immediately, Minato saw red, his hands clenching into fists at his side before he forced himself to let a deep breath go and his hands to relax. "You," the blonde began, "should know the truth behind this all. This was NEVER supposed to happen as I left EXPLICIT instructions. I cannot be solely blamed for what happened to my son...though I take much of it as it was my decision to use his body to become your vessel."

**"Yes. Your pitiful little boy. The one you condemned to pain and suffering because you decided to save your village rather than be a father." **the Kyuubi snapped. **"I was there every time your precious villagers ambushed the boy."** he started,** "Every time he wept himself dry at night, wondering what he had done to deserve such hatred. Every punch. Every kick. Every stab. Every burn. I. Was. There. But you weren't. The one person he needed in his life, and you chose the village filled with ignorant little mortals who fear that which is stronger than they are and what they don't understand." **The Kyuubi let out a vicious snarl at the Fourth. **"You don't _deserve_ to live once more, least of all through Naruto's body!"**

Minato stood stock still, frozen in place while his mind replayed the scene of his sons murder over and over again. He knew he didn't deserve a second chance while his sons life was taken from him so early in his life. He knew that had he waited...perhaps waited and attacked the crux of the problem that fateful October day, the Kyuubi would have left on it's own volition once the control was snapped...he would have lived perhaps, and his son would never have been forced to becoming a demon vessel.

Closing his eyes tightly, trying to force the images away, Minato calmed his breathing, and stared harshly at the Kyuubi with tears welling in his cerulean eyes.

"I know." he said firmly, "I know. I watched, hopelessly as my son was murdered by the very people I gave my life to protect. To save. I know I chose the duties of being Hokage over my family...my son...Given the chance, I would have done everything differently." a tear streaked down his cheek, "but that doesn't matter. What's done, is done. Dwelling on the past, and past mistakes accomplishes nothing but self-inflicted grief.

"I can't bring my son back. All I can do is live his life to the fullest for him. To prove everyone that my son is not the demon they make him out to be. To emulate the life that was taken from him as he lives with his mother at Kami's side." The tears streaked down his face freely now. He was so sure of what he was going to do for his son the moment he took his place in the real world. So sure that he would prove to the world that he was better than they were. That he was strong.

That they were wrong.

But now, would it truly be Naruto proving to the world that he was strong? Or would, should the truth ever come out, it be him who proved he was the stronger still?

The Kyuubi snarled at him, his sharp canines barred at him as the nine tailed fox glared hatefully.

**"You humans are so pathetic." **it hissed out, **"The kit was mine, and I failed to protect him. I will do nothing to help you, _Fourth._"** he snarled his title with the utmost hatred, **"However, I _will_ protect this body, but only in the most bare minimum way possible. The Kit deserves that much. Now, GET OUT!"**

He felt himself be flung out of the sewer, as though he had been tied securely around the waist with a rope and be pulled forcefully back. Minato groaned in pain as he felt himself flutter his eyes open to what he assumed was the real world. He felt himself in the smaller body that was his son's, aching in pain and incredibly stiff. He could hear the dulled sounds of an argument, something breaking, but even as everything began to clear, he couldn't raise his head, or move it to the side to see what was happening before him.

"You're awake!" exclaimed a surprised and relieved voice. It was familiar, uncharacteristically soft if it was who he remembered it to belong to, but heart-warmingly familiar.

He forced his eyes to open fully, or rather as fully as they would in his exhaustion, and saw the blonde haired woman he had named Godmother for his son.

Tsunade Seju.

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A/N: Ridiculously short, but the next one (which is about two-thirds way done) is currently marked at 5,021 words, so I hope it'll be worth the wait.


End file.
